Full text of "The history of Switzerland, for the Swiss people"

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THB 

PUBUC LIBRARY- 



HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND, 



BY 

HEINKICH ZSCHOKKE. 



TRANSLATED BY 
FRANCIS GEORGE SHAW. 



NEW YORK : 

HUBST AND COMPANY, 

PUBLISHERS. 



TRANSLATOE'S PREFACE. 



While studying the history of Switzerland on Swiss soil, 1 
was charmed by the simple beauty, the conciseness and im- 
partiality of Zschokke's popular work, which is used as a text- 
book in many, if not in all, of the Confederate Cantons ; and, 
with the assent of pastor Emil Zschokke of Aarau, the worthy 
eontinuer of his late celebrated father's labors, I made the fol- 
lowing translation from the ninth enlarged edition. 

Having myself felt a want of information on the subject, I 
now present this translation to my fellow-citizens of these United 
States, in the hope that a more extended acquaintance with the 
history of our sister republic may teach us to shun the perils 
through which the Swiss people have passed at the cost of so 
much suffering, and may aid us to appreciate our own more 
favorable position as a nation. 

Staten Island, New York, 



Note. — As the Swiss, in diflPerent parts of their country, apeak different langoftgM 
(Qerman, French, Italian, and several distinct idioms), there is necessarily a great diver- 
sity also in their nomenclature. I have followed that of the author, which is German, 
or employed that locally prevalent, cxcapt in ca»os where a person or plac« is better 
known to us by some other name. 



CONTENTS. 



FAGS 

I How it was in the beginning 1 

II The first exploits of the ancient Helvetians, and how the 

Cymbri came to them. [B. C. 100.] 3 

IIL All the country becomes Roman. [B. C. 60.] 5 

rV. Of the Roman dominion in the land. [A. D. 1 to 300.] 10 

V. How the whole country became a prey to foreign nations. 

[A. D. 300 to 650.] 13 

VI Dominion and rule of the Franks. [A D. 650 to 900.] 16 

VII. The Christian religion penetrates the land 18 

VIII. How the country becomes part of the German empire, and 

cities are built. [A. D. 900 to 1200.] 21 

IX. More about the cities and the great signiors in the country. 

[A. D. 1200 to 1290.] 26 

X. Of the communities in the mountains of Schwyz, Appenzell, 

Rhetia and Valais. [A. D. 1200 to 1290.] 30 

XL About the good emperor, Rudolf of Habsburg, and the evil 

designs of his son Albert [A. D. 1291 to 1307.] 34 

XII. Of William Tell and the three men in Rutli. [A. D. 1307.] 38 
XIU. The New-Year's morning of 1308. Battle for freedom at 
Morgarten. Lucerne joins the Confederates. [A. D. 1308 

to 1334.] 41 

XIV Berne vanquishes the power of the nobility near Laupen ; 
and knight Brun changes the constitution of Zurich. 

[AD. 1335 to 1340.] 46 

XV. Origin of the perpetual bond of the eight ancient cantons 

of the Confederacy. [A. D. 1341 to 1360,] 60 

XVL How the Swiss increase, and the Guglers and the counts of 

Kyburg are ruined. [A. D. 1360 to 1385.] 55 



VlU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTBB PAOt 

XVII. The battle for freedom near Sempach. [A. D. 1385 to 

1387.] 59 

XVIII. The battle for freedom near Nafels, and its consequences. 

[A. D. 1388 to 1402.] 62 

XIX The heroic days of the Appenzellers. [A.D. 1403 to 1411.] 67 
XX. The Confederates conquer Aargau and establish common 

bailiwicks. [A. D. 1412 to 1418.] 73 

XXI. The Mazza of Valais against Raron, The battle of Arbedo, 

and the cunning of lord Zoppo. [A. D. 1419 to 1426.]. 78 

XXII. In the Highlands of Rhetia, the Upper-league, the GodV 
house-league and the League of the Ten-jurisdictions 
are formed in behalf of liberty. [A. D. 1426 to 1436.] 83 

XXIII. Quarrel respecting the Toggenburg-inheritance. [A. D. 

1436 to 1443.] 88 

XXIV. War of all the Confederates against Zurich. The H*>roes- 

death near St. Jacques. Peace, [a. D. 1443 to 1450.]. 93 
XXV. Rhelufelden is devastated. Freiburg falls into the p^wer 
of Savoy. Thurgau becomes a common bailiwick o^ Mie 

Confederacy. [A. D. 1450 to 1468.] 99 

XXVI. Union of the three Leagues in Rhetia. Discord in Berne. 
Commencement of the Burgundian war. [A. D. 1469 

to 1476.] 104 

XXVII. Result of the Burgundian war. Freiburg becomes free. 

[A.D. 1476 to 1477.] '08 

XXVIII. The gloiious day of Giornico. Nicholas von der Flue. 
Freiburg and Solothurn in the Swiss Confederacy. 
Death of John Waldmann at Zurich. [A. D. 1478 to 

1489.] 114 

XXIX. The Suabian War. Formation of the Confederacy of the 

thirteen cantons. [A. D. 1490 to 1500.] ^20 

XXX The savage manners and mercenary wars of the Swiss ; 
they conquer Valtelina and the Italian bailiwicks. 

[A D. 1500 to 1525.] 126 

XXXI. Beginning of the religious schism in Switzerland. [A. D. 

151 9 to 1527.] 131 

XXXII. Progress of the discord in church-matters. [A. D. 1527 

to 1530.] 136 

XXXIIL The war of Kappel. Death of ZwinglL Avoyer Wengi 

of Solothurn. [A. D. 1531 to 1533.] 140 

XXXIV. Geneva separates from Savoy. Berne subdues Vauc. 

[A. D. 1533 to 1568. J 148 



CONTENTS. IX 

niAnsx pAGi 

XXXy. Religious hatred in the Italian bailiwicks, in Orisons and 
everywhere. Dispute about the calendar. The Borro- 

mean-league. [A. D. 1558 to 1586.] 148 

XXXVL Insurrection at Muhlhausen. The Rhodes of Appenzell 
separate. The duke of Savoy tries to surprise Geneva. 

[A. D. 1587 to 1603.] 153 

XXXVII. Troubles in Bienne. Conspiracy against Geneva. The 
black death. Commencement of civil war in Grisons. 

[A. D. 1603 to 1618.] 158 

XXXVIII. Terrible destruction of Plurs. Massacre in Valtelina. 

Civil war among the Grisons. [A. D. 1618 to 1621.]. . 162 
XXXIX. The Grisons are brought under the Austrian yoke. [A. D. 

1621 to 1630.] U1 

XL. The Grisons recover their liberty. [A. D. 1630 to 1640.] 171 
XLI. Of the troubles among the Confederates during the Thirty 
years' religious war in Germany, and how Switzerland's 
independence of the German empire was established. 

[A. D. 1618 to 1648.] 175 

XLII. How the peasants in the cantons of Lucerne, Berne, Solo- 
thurn and Bale undertake to revolt, and lose thereby. 

[A. D. 1648 to 1655.] 1 80 

XLUI. Another religious war. The battle near Villmergen. 
Commotion in Bale. The pestilence. [A. D. 1656 to 

1699.] 189 

XLIV. How the Toggenburgers were deprived of their ancient 
liberties by the abbot of St. Gallen, and what happened 

in consequence. [A. D. 1700 to 1712.] 194 

XLV. The Toggenburger war. Second battle near Villmergen. 

Peace concluded at Aarau. [A. D. 1712 to 1718.] 199 

XLVL Condition of the Swiss at the commencement of the 
Eighteenth century. Thomas Massner's quarrel. [A. D. 

1701 to 1714.] 204 

XL VII. Disturbances in Zurich, SchaflFhausen and the bishopric of 

Bale. [A. D. 1714 to 1740.] 208 

XLVni. Insurrection of the Werdenbergers against Glarus. [A. D. 

1714 to 1740.] 213 

XLIX. Party-rage and disturbances in Zug. Power and misfor- 
tunes of landammann Schumacher. [A. D. 1714 to 

1740.] 216 

L. Quarrel of the Harten and Linden in the Outer-rhodes of 

Appenzell. j; A, D. 1714 to 1740.] ,. ,,..^, ... . 3?J 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTIB 



TAat 



LI. Henzi's conspiracy at Berne. [A. D. 1740 to 1749.] 226 

LII. Of the rebellion in the valley of Leventina. [A. D. 1750 

to 1756.] 229 

LUL How the ancient Confederacy fell into still greater decay. 

The Helvetian society. [A. D. 1755 to 1761.] 233 

LIV. King Frederick the Great, as prince of Neuchdtel, behaves 

nobly towards his subjects. [A. D. 1762 to 1770.] 238 

LV. Party-quarrels in the city of Lucerne. History of land- 
ammann Suter of the Outer-rhodes of Appenzell. [A. D, 

1770 to 1784.] 241 

LVL Disturbances and insurrections in the canton of Freiburg. 

[A. D. 1781 to 1790.] 247 

LVH. Disturbances in the bishopric of Bale, in Vaud and Orisons. 

[A. D. 1790 to 1794.] 261 

LVin. History of parties and excesses in Geneva. [A. D. 1707 

to 1797.] 266 

LIX. Of the ancient district of St. Gallen and the wise abbot 
Beda ; how disturbances also broke forth on the lake of 

Zurich. [A. D. 1794 to 1797.] 262 

LX. Destruction of the old Confederacy. Entrance of the 

French into the land. [A. D. 1797 and 1798.] 268 

TiYT. How the Swiss suffered great calamities, until a new Con- 
federacy was formed. [A. D. 1798 to 1803.] 274 

LXn. Napoleon Buonaparte gives to the Swiss an " Act of media- 
tion." [A. D. 1803 to 1813.] 279 

LXIIL The Swiss annul Napoleon's "Act of mediation,'* and 
divide, until foreign powers once more put an end to 
their division by founding a new Confederacy of twenly- 

two cantons. [A. D. 1814 and 1815.] 284 

LXIV. Renewed loss of liberty, and weakness of the Swiss. 

[A. D. 1815 to 1829.] 289 

LXV. Thirteen cantons recover their liberty. Troubles in 

Schwyz, Neuchatel and Bale. [A. D. 1830 to 1832.]. . . 293 
LXVI. The league of Sarnen. Five hundred Poles enter Switzer- 
land from France. [A. D. 1832 to 1833.] 30C 

LXVIL Breach of the peace. Peace restored by the Diet. [A. D. 

1833.] 304 

LXVUL Conclusion 307 



dONTENTS. ^i 



CONTINUATION. 

LXIX. Expedition against Savoy. Occurrences at Steinholzlein. 

[A. D. 1834.] 311 

LXX. Dispute with France. [A. D. 1836 and 1836.] 315 

LXXI. Protocol of the Baden-conference ; its occasion and conse- 
quences. [A. D. 1834 to 1836.] 320 

LXXII. Constitutional quarrel in Glarus. Contest between the 
Horners and Klauens in Schwyz. Louis Napoleon. 

[A. D. 1837 and 1838.] 326 

LXXIII. Explosion at Zurich. [A. D. 1839.] 331 

LXXIV. Bitter consequences. Convent-rebellion at Aargau. [A. D. 

1840 and 1841.] 336 

LXXV. Revolution in Lucerne, in Ticino and Geneva. [A. D. 1840 

to 1841.] 343 

LXXVI. Termination of the convent-question. Formation of the 

Sonderbund. [A. D. 1842 to 1843.] 348 

LXXVIL Party-hatred in Valais and fratricide on the Trient. 

[A. D. 1844.] 362 

LXXVIII. The Jesuits invited to Lucerne. First free-corps expedi- 
tion. [A. D. 1844.] d5l 

LXXIX. Revolution in Vaud. Second free-corps expedition. [A. D. 

1845.] 362 

LXXX. Painful consequences. [A. D. 1845 and 1846] 368 

LXXXL The crisis approaches. [A. D. 1846 to 1847.] 372 

LXXXIL The Sonderbund-war. [A. D. 1847.] 376 

LXXXIII. The new Swiss Confederate-bond. [A. D. 1848.] 387 



I 1 ) 



tilSTOEY OF SWITZEELATO. 






CHAPTER I. 

HOW IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING. 

The wonderful deeds of the heroes, our fathers, their 
guod and evil fortunes, have been frequently told and as 
frequently recorded ; but I wish to freshen those ancient 
traditions in the minds of the whole nation ; and I relate 
them to the free men of the mountains and of the valleys, 
that their hearts may be inflamed with new love for their 
noble fatherland. 

Attend, therefore, to my tale, old men and young. The 
history of past ages is a tree of the knowledge of good and 
of evil. 



Where the Rhone, which rises from under the glaciers 
of Yalais, at last rushes into the Mediterranean, begins a 
chain of lowly mountains. As they stretch further to 
the east, they raise their summits higher in the air, and, 
approaching Italy, hft them still higher, veiling their 
rocky tops in clouds and everlasting snows. They are 
three hundred leagues in length from their beginning until 
they reach Hungary. There the mountains sink by degrees 
and become hills. These mountains are the Alps,* and 

* Aip means an elevated pasture : hence the name of the mountaini 
or. which such pastures exist. 

1 A 



2 CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. 

Helvetia was the ancient name of the country where their 
snowy summits, their bared cliffs and inaccessible peaks 
rise highest, far above the fields of men and above the 
clouds of heaven. 

Beyond the high Alps, furrowed by narrow gorges at * 
covered with glaciers, the sources of innumerable rivefctj, 
the country extends to the north, in progressively enlarg- 
ing valleys, as far as the calcareous mountains of the Jura. 
These curve in the form of an immense half-moon, from 
lake Leman (lake of Geneva) to the lake of Constance 
(Boden-see). And from Schaffhausen to Bale, the Rhine 
rolls its waves along the base of the Jura, as in a 
moat at the base of a rampart. Thus has God begirt our 
fatherland, like an immense citadel, with steep mountains 
and deep waters. But a citadel is strong only when men 
are in it. 

In ages of which no man knows, all this country was an 
ocean. The water stood fifteen hundred fathoms above 
the fields and meadows which we now cultivate. At that 
period, the summits of the mountains were separate islands. 
The high rocks still bear the marks of the mighty flood. 
Plants and shell-fish, which once lived at the bottom of 
the sea, now lie petrified in the mud which has become 
rock. The finger of God has written in the veins of the 
mountains, and the voice of Nature cries to us from the 
depths of their caverns, that this earth, before being the 
abode of man, underwent more than one overwhelming 
convulsion. 

After the waters had subsided, and the dried bottom of 
the sea had become covered by moss, grass, shrubs and 
forests, ages passed ere a human voice resounded through 
the silence of this wilderness. No one knows who first 
wandered with his herd along the woody shores of our 
lakes and rivers. The earliest families must have estab- 
lished themselves in the broad and temperate valleys; long 
afterwards, they ascended into the wilder regions, and, at 
last, discovered the solitudes enclosed among the high 
Alps. 

Six hundred years before the birth of Christ, the valleys 
above which the Rhine has its source were still unin- 



THE RHETIANS. S 

habited. Then, according to tradition, some fugitives from 
Italy first peopled them. The Gauls, a warlike and power- 
ful nation, had penetrated into Italy, and, conquering the 
inhabitants, had slain them, or driven them from the abodes 
of their fathers. Trembling before the sword of their 
enemy, many fled from the maritime country of the Rasen- 
nes, where now flourish the cities of Genoa and Florence. 
With their wives, their children and their household gods, 
they found an asylum in the recesses and wildernesses of the 
high Alps. There they fixed their abodes in secluded val- 
leys, among dense forests and lofty mountains, safe from 
the fury of the Gauls. They were called Rhetians, from 
the name of their god or hero, Rhetus. Hence the country 
about the sources of the Rhine and of the Inn, the strong 
home of the free Grisons, is, even in our day, called 
Rhetia. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE FIRST BXPLOITS OF THE ANCIENT HELVETIANS, AND HOW THE 
CYMBRI CAME TO THEM. 

[One hundred years before the birth of Christ.] 

For several centuries, the people increased slowly in the 
valleys between the Alps and the Jura, between lake 
Leman and the lake of Constance. Surrounded by rocks, 
woods and rivers, they lived on the products of the chase, 
of the soil, of their herds, unknown to the world, in savage 
freedom. They formed as many independent communities 
as there were separate valleys. Their valiant young men 
pursued the game through gloomy forests, fought with ser- 
pents in caverns and morasses, with wild beasts in the 
mountains, or, from time to time, made predatory excur- 
Bions into the neighborhood. Skins formed their clothing; 
lances, clubs, bows and arrows were their arms. For 
offence and defence, several communes united into a Gau 
(district or province). That of the Tigurins, upon the banks 



4 DEFEAT OF THE ROMANS. [B. XJ. 

of the Khine aud Thur, was the first of which the name 
is known (Thurgau). 

Then it happened that a terrible people, coming from 
distant countries, crossed the forests of Germany. They 
were three hundred thousand warlike men, called Cymbri, 
that is : Confederates from various nations. Many of them 
are said to have come from Friesland and Sweden, and 
from Norway, where the inhabited world lies chilled in 
snow and ice. The tradition is that they had been driven 
out by hunger, when the sluices of heaven were opened 
upon their homes, and valleys and heights became lakes 
and swamps. Kow they came, fighting and conquering, 
to the Rhine, and over the Rhine, to the cities of the Gauls, 
in the country which is now France. There they obtained 
an enormous booty. 

When the young men in the district of the Tigurins 
heard of this, they were desirous to share in the glory and 
booty of the Cymbri. All who could bear arms went and 
joined those powerful conquerors. Much plunder was 
taken, much blood was shed. The people of Gaul uttered 
cries of terror, and implored help from Rome. 

Rome immediately sent a strong army. It marched over 
the snowy Alps towards lake Leman. This frightened the 
Tigurins who were with the Cymbri ; they thought that 
their homes in the mountains were threatened. They at 
once hastened against the Romans near lake Leman. A 
young hero, named Divikon, was their leader. As soon 
as he saw the enemy's camp, he drew the sword. A fright- 
ful carnage ensued ; the bodies of the Romans covered the 
field ; at last, they asked for quarter. Then Divikon raised 
two posts, over which he placed a beam. Beneath this 
gallows-yoke he compelled the disarmed enemies to crawl, 
to the eternal glory of his own people, and to the shame of 
Rome. Then he sent them home over the mountains. 

Elated by this victory, Divikon rejoined the Cymbri, his 
companions in arms, and with them ravaged Gaul. After- 
wards, they crossed the high Alps, entered Italy, and 
threatened Rome. Then the Romans rose in their strength, 
and many bloody battles were fought. But fortune 
deserted the Cymbri, Most of them fell by the edge of the 



l-iO.] ANCIENT TRADITIONS. 6 

sworGv, Those who escaped sought safety with Divikon in 
the seccirity of the Helvetian mountains. 

Thus, men driven from the cold North by flood and 
famine, came to establish themselves in Helvetia. They 
fixed their abode on the shores of the lake of the Wald- 
statten,* at the foot of the Haken and the Mythen, near to 
Bruch-land, which means marshy land, and cleared the 
forests. Hence they were called Bruchen-buren (peasants 
of the marsh). Schwyz is thought to have been founded 
by the brothers Switer and Swen. Family names, com- 
mon in Sweden, are even now heard in those valleys. 

Thence the people, as they became numerous, spread 
into the uninhabited woody valleys on the lake, into the 
country about Kernwald, over the black mountain Brunig, 
and thence through Hasli in Weissland, at the foot of the 
white ice mountains, from valley to valley, as far as Fruti- 
gen, Obersibnen, Sanen, Aflflentsch, and Jaun. 

So say the most ancient, uncertain traditions. 



CHAPTER III. 

ALL THE COUNTRY BECOMES ROMAW. 
[Fifty years before the birth of Christ] 

For a long while after the exploits of Divikon and the 
Cymbri, tales were told of the fat pastures and rich coun- 
try which had been seen in Gaul. There, was a more tem- 
perate sky, under which flourished the olive and the vine, 
and the snows of winter were seldom known. These talcs 
excited the longings of the people in rugged Helvetia, 
especially when they heard them confirmed by travellers, 
or by tneir neighbors beyond the Rhine, with whom a 
friendly intercourse was maintained. 

• Lake of the forext-cantom ; usually called Vier "Waldstatter See 
Lake of the four forest-cantons, because enclosed by the cantons of Uri 
bcliwyz, Unterwalden and Lucerne. 



6 ORaETORIX. [b. 

At this time, there lived in the country a man of note, 
named Hordrich. (The Eomans called him Orgetorix, and 
he is now known only by this altered name.) Ten thou- 
sand men and women servants cultivated his fields and 
herded his cattle ; he enjoyed much consideration among 
the neighboring Gauls, and associated with their small 
princes. This man aspired to great things. He spoke first 
to the chief persons of his own district, then to those of the 
others, and, lastly, to the people in the communes. "Why 
should we exhaust our strength on a rough and rocky soil, 
to obtain a bare subsistence for ourselves and our animals? 
We must migrate into Graul, here are plenty of fruitful 
fields open to a valiant people." These speeches inflamed 
all minds, and, soon, every one thought of going. The com- 
munes assembled and unanimously decided to prepare for 
a general emigration. During three years they were to 
cultivate their fields and make provision for the long jour- 
ney ; while, in the interval, they engaged allies and assist- 
ants, and did whatever was necessary to give security to 
their hazardous enterprise. 

Orgetorix, delighted with the success of his appeal, 
exerted himself to ensure a prosperous result. He dis- 
played great activity, constantly traversed the different dis- 
tricts, passed the Khine to communicate with the bordering 
people and their chiefs; he asked a free passage for his 
nation, made great promises, talked more and louder than 
was prudent. He even gave his daughter in marriage to 
one of the neighboring princes, and acted as if he were 
himself already lord and king of the Helvetians. 

This made his fellow-countrymen suspicious, and they 
V)egan to think that he intended to betray the people and 
to destroy their ancient liberties, in order to become abso- 
lute master. But there was a law in the Helvetian districts 
that whoever attempted to infringe the rights and liberties 
of the people should be burnt to death ; and Orgetorix was 
summoned to appear and reply to his accusers. He refused, 
and tried to arm his servants in his defence. Then the 
communes rose against him. Seeing that all was lost, he 
killed himself. 

IjV^hen the three years of preparation had elapsed, the 



so] GENERAL EMIGRATION! 7 

people in the four districts began their emigration. The 
men bearing arms opened the march. Okl Divikon, who 
had defeated the Romans at lake Leman fifty years before, 
was their leader. Then followed the women and children, 
the wagons and carts laden with provisions and articles 
of value. They burned aU their dwellings behind them, 
twelve cities and four hundred villages, that no one might 
long to return to his old home. Many thousands of allies 
came from lake Constance, and the Rauraques from the 
Rhine country, which now constitutes the Frickthal and 
the territory of Bale. All joined the Helvetians. 

Thus the lon^r, interminable train of warlike emigrants 
crossed mountains and valleys. The Helvetians were 
260,000 in all. They directed their march towards Geneva, 
then a city of the Allobroges, a small but courageous peo- 
ple, and allied to Rome. 

At this time, about sixty years before the advent of Jesus 
Christ, Rome was the most powerful city in the whole 
world. She had become such through the liberty, the 
heroism and the wisdom of her citizens. Her arms and 
laws ruled over Italy and from Gaul to Judea. The great- 
est of her generals, Julius Cesar, was at Geneva to protect 
the Allobroges. 

When Cesar heard of the approach of the Helvetians, 
and of their intention to cross the Rhone at Geneva, he 
immediately built, along the stream, in front of the city, a 
wall 9000 paces long and 16 feet high, with numerous 
towers, and opposed the passage of the emigrants. But 
they turned towards the gorge of the Jura, through 
which the Rhone precipitates its waters into Gaul. They 
clambered along steep rocks, by narrow footpaths. Be 
neath them were abysses and the roaring flood. 

They were hardly across the mountains, on the plains of 
Gaul, when Cesar was there also. He attacked the rear- 
guard of Tigurins. Grey-haired Divikon approached Cesar 
and said : " What have I to do with thee and thy Romans ? 
Let me go on my way in peace, or remember the conflict 
of lake Leman, and beware lest I make this place, also, 
celebrated by a Roman defeat !" Cesar answered : " The 
Gods formerly granted good fortune to thee by lake Leman, 



8 JULIUS cfiSAR. [b. cr 

in order that thj present bad fortune might be doubl/ bit* 
ter. Nevertheless, I will let thee go thy way, provided 
thou respect my allies, restore to them what thy soldiers 
have plundered on their passage, and give me hostages for 
thy truth." "Not so, Eoraan," replied Divikon, "we 
have learnt from our ancestors to take, instead of giving 
hostages." 

Thereat, the Helvetians journeyed on, slowly and with 
difficulty, followed closely, during fourteen days, by the 
Koman host. Suddenly the Helvetians turned, full of 
anger and in arms. A general battle took place in the 
fields of the Gallic city of Bibracte (Autun) ; it lasted from 
morning until sunset. Valiantly, but without skill, fought 
the Helvetians ; not less valiantly, but with more experi- 
ence in war, the Romans. This gave the victory to the 
latter. The Helvetians fled in disorder to the hill where 
their wives, children and property were enclosed by a 
rampart of wagons. The enemy followed and broke 
through the wagons; old men and warriors, women and 
children, fell b}^ the swords of the victors ; many by their 
own, that they might not survive freedom and honor ; others 
fled shrieking, wandered in every direction, and were given 
up by the Gauls to Cesar. He said to the vanquished, 
prostrate at his feet and imploring his mercy : " Lay down 
your arms ; return home whence you came ; rebuild your 
huts; live as before, contented in your mountains, under 
your own laws. Every country is good for man, when 
man is good for the country. You shall not be the slaves 
of Rome, but shall share her alliance and protection." 

Full of shame and sorrow, numbering hardly 110,000, 
they returned to the valleys whence they had come, and 
rebuilt their hu;s upon the ashes. But Cesar erected, 
near Geneva, on the lake, a new fortress, called Novio- 
dunum, now Nyon. This he did to watch the Helvetians. 
Other garrisons were also placed here and there in the 
land. 

Roman troops were also stationed at Octodurum (perhaps 
Martigny), at the foot of the Alps, in what is now Lower 
Valais, to guard the road over the mountains into Italy. 
The inhabitants of this broad valley, through which the 



50.] EXTIXCTION" OF LIBERTY. S 

Rhone finds its way to the lake, then lived a free and 
savage life ; they had no connection with either the Helve- 
tians or the Romans ; they enforced a toll on all merchan- 
dise that crossed their Alps, and committed depradationa 
upon it. When they saw foreign soldiers thus established 
and entrenched on their territory, they became furious. 
Rushing from their mountains and their valleys, they 
attacked the Roman garrisons in their entrenchments, and 
harassed them until they drove them from the country. 
But the Romans soon returned into the valley with such 
increased forces as made all resistance vain. Nearly ten 
thousand of the inhabitants, fighting for the freedom of 
their homes, were slain, and, on every side, villages sank 
in flames. From this time, Yalais, also, was Roman. 

The Rhetians alone, behind their ice-mountains and 
their lakes, deemed themselves invincible. Along the Inn, 
in the valleys of what is now Tyrol, and in the Vindelecian 
plains (now Suabia), were their allies and confederates, as 
advanced guards. They lived a wild life, pillaged travel- 
lers, or, suddenly issuing in numerous hordes from the 
gorges of their mountains, surprised and plundered the 
neighboring Italian cities. From among their prisoners 
they sacrificed victims on the altars of their Gods. 

Irritated by this, the emperor Augustus, in whose reign 
the Savior of the world was born, sent two armies at once 
to penetrate that fearful and elevated region. One passed 
the Alps and descended towards the Inn ; the other crossed 
the Vindelecian lake (lake of Constance) ; and the whole 
country was subjugated after bloody conflicts. It is related 
that the wives of the Rhetians rushed into the ranks of the 
combatants, and dashed their nursing inflmts upon the faces 
of the enemy, as if in their mountains all life must become 
i3Xtinct with liberty. 
1* 



10 THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS. [A. D. 1; 



CHAPTER lY. 

OF THE ROMAN DOMINION IN THE LAND. 
[A. D. 1 to 800.] 

Liberty did indeed become extinct in the mountains, 
but life remained, subject thenceforth to the Roman em- 
peror Augustus, who ruled, all-powerful, from the rising 
to the setting of the sun. He sent his prefects, governors 
and soldiers into the inhabited valleys of Helvetia, and 
caused strong fortresses to be erected, to keep the people in 
subjection and obedience. He saw that the snowy Alps 
and the Jura were an insurmountable bulwark for Italy, 
where he sat on the throne in the rich city of Rome. 

Still the emperor treated the conquered Helvetians with 
humanity, and respected their manners and customs, that 
they might thus become more easily habituated to his rule, 
and forget their disgrace. He even permitted them to live 
according to their ancient laws, and under magistrates of 
their own choice. All matters relating to the interests of 
a district were discussed in an assembly of deputies from 
each commune. But the emperor reserved to himself the 
right to enact general laws, to decree taxes and contribu- 
tions, and to make* war and peace. 

All this took place at the time when Jesus Christ was 
born in Judea. After the death of the emperor Augustus, 
his successors long showed themselves favorable to the 
Helvetians. They founded many new colonial cities, and 
connected them with each other by broad highways. The 
Roman prefects, governors and military men, accustomed 
to a more comfortable life than were the poor, rude Helve- 
tians, built everywhere magnificent dwellings and pleasure- 
houses, introduced fruit-trees from Italy, and instructed the 
people in all kinds of trades and manufactures, in com- 
merce, and in the arts and sciences ; thus, by degrees, the 
country acquired riches and comforts, previously unknown. 

Many places became populous, and grew into magnifi' 
pent cities, with immense palaces, baths, temples and thea 



-300.] AULUS CECINA. 11 

tres. The great city Aventicum was ten times more exteu 
sive than now is Wiflisburg (Avenche) on the same spot. 
The boats of the lake of Morat then landed under the walls. 
At the place where we now see two little villages (Augst 
in Bale, and Augst in Aargau) at the confluence of the 
Ergolz and the Rhine, was a flourishing city, Augusta 
Rauracorum, the ruins of which still attest its former mag- 
nificence. But greatest and most magnificent of all was 
the city of Vindonissa (Windisch, in Aargau). In the vast 
space covered by its fortresses; its palaces and its suburbs, 
we now see three villages and a city (Brugg). 

These things pleased the Helvetians. They were de- 
lighted at the clemency of their masters, willingly paid 
taxes and contributions, and sent their sons to serve in the 
Roman armies. In thoir new comforts, they forgot the 
ancient liberty for which their fathers had fought and 
bled. 

But comfort without liberty is an uncertain good. Let 
not the bird rejoice in his golden cage, for his master can 
kill him at his will ! 

About seventy years after the birth of Jesus Christ, an 
emperor, named Galba. was assassinated at Rome, and an- 
other elected in his stead : Vitellius, who was not satisfac- 
tory to all. The Helvetians were ignorant of the death 
of the old emperor, but the chiefs of the Roman garrisons 
in the country, being early informed, leagued together in 
behalf of Vitellius, and sent messengers in every direction. 
This astonished the Helvetians, who thought that the 
leaders meditated a revolt against the emperor Galba. 
The soldiers of the garrisons, especially those of Vindo- 
nissa, were moreover insolent and undisciplined, and had 
even seized the pay belonging to the garrison of Baden, 
composed entirely of young Helvetians. These, therefore, 
intercepted the messengers and letters of Aulus Cecino^ 
governor-general of Vindonissa. 

When Cecina received news of this in Vindonissa, he 
was greatly exasperated, and marched out with his troops, 
who were called, and were, " terrible." He stormed and 
destroyed the fortress and city of Baden, which had bo 
come flourishing in consequence of its warm healing springs 



12 JULIA ALPINULA. [A. D. I- 

on the Limmat, plundered the country and vanquished the 
resisting Helvetians in a bloody combat. He pursued the 
conquered beyond the Boetzberg, one of the Jura moun- 
tains. In their flight down the mountain, the fugitives 
were met by a numerous body of Thracian cavalry. 
Thousands of the Helvetians were slain in this encounter, 
or dispersed among the woods and cliffs ; others were taken 
and sold as slaves. 

This massacre did not appease the wrath of Cecina, but 
he swept over and ravaged the whole country, as far as 
Aventicum. Here lived a rich and respected Helvetian, 
Julius Alpinus. The cruel Koman ordered him to be 
seized, as the originator of the revolt,, to be loaded with 
bonds and chains, and led forth to an ignominious death. 
In vain did many persons testify to the old man's inno- 
cence; in vain did his daughter, Julia Alpinula, a priest- 
ess, throw herself at Cecina's feet. Her beauty, her youth 
and her tears could not touch the heart of the ferocious 
warrior. The grey-haired old man was put to death. 

The whole land was filled with sorrow and complaints. 
The people now learned, too late, that the emperor to whom 
they wished to remain faithful, had been killed, and that 
Vitellius was lord of the world. Embassadors were sent 
in haste to the new emperor, to implore his mercy. Pros- 
trate in the dust at the foot of his throne, the Helvetians 
begged for pardon with tears and sobs. That which they 
solicited with contemptible submission as trembling sub- 
jects, was contemptuously granted to them as vile slaves. 
Such is the lot of vassalage, which prefers the comforts of 
life to freedom from foreign bondage. 

But neither the carnage of Boetzberg, nor the desolation 
of Aventicum, nor the disgrace before the imperial throne, 
could restore to the Helvetians their pristine vigor. It 
had been extinguished and destroyed by long effeminacy. 
They forgot past sufferings, and lived as before, in enervat- 
ing pleasures ; sought for riches, sensual delights, and the 
refinements of luxury, and ^ared not for that heroism which 
lives only in free hearts. 

Their Roman rulers were pleased to see that the people, 
thoughtless of better things, remained effeminate and tribu 



-300.] HELVETIAN KFFEMlXACr. IS 

tiry ; that, unaccustomed to fighting, they unlearned the 
art of war, and that, instead of strengthening the union 
between their districts, they awaited their weal or woe, in 
slavish silence, from the hand of their masters. 

Woe to the country in whose tribunals foreigners sit, 
and whose gates are guarded by foreigners ! Woe to the 
people who are proud of the support of a foreign power, 
and divided among themselves by hatred 1 Woe to the 
nations who amass gold and know not the use of steel, by 
which life is protected ! 

The Helvetians, thoughtless of defence, were exposed to 
constant peril. As they had forgotten the past, they fore- 
saw not the future. Thus they were ripe for destruction. 
Thus the day of their terrible and total ruin found them 
entirely unprepared. 



CHAPTER Y. 



HOW THE WHOLE COUNTRY BECOMES A PREY TO FOREIGN NATIONS. 

[A. D. 800 to 550.] 

At this period, great and wonderful things took place 
upon the earth. Eome, for so many ages queen of the 
world, in losing her virtues had lost the pillars of her 
power. Paganism, despised, had no longer any hold upon 
men, and they forsook the altars of idols for the unknown 
God. From the bosom of the East, the light of Christian- 
ity blazed forth as a newly risen sun, and enkindled with 
its rays the hearts of multitudes in three quarters of the 
world. 

It seemed as if a voice from heaven had said: ^'I will 
mingle together the nations of the earth, like chaff in a 
whirlwind, that the sparks of holy faith may be scattered 
over the world, and all the countries of men be set on fire 
thereby. The false gods shall become dust and ashes. 
Old things shall be destroyed, and all shall become new." 

And now, from the depths of unknown regions, issued 
nations upon nations, driving all before them at the point 



14 THE] ALtEMANNt, IIUNS, [SOO- 

of the sword. They came from the rising of the san, and 
from the unconquered countries of the North. 

First came the Allemanni, savage warriors of Germanic 
race. During two centuries and a half of continued war- 
fare, the J penetrated deeper and deeper into the Eoman 
territory, and drew nearer and nearer to the Helvetian 
mountains. At last they broke, like an overwhelming 
torrent, through the passes of the Jura, and spread them- 
selves over the land. From the Black Forest to the foot 
of the Alps, all was desolation. The magnificence of 
Aventicum and of Vindonissa lay heaped in ruins. Eo- 
mans, as well as Helvetians, if spared by the sword of the 
enemy, became slaves. The Allemanni divided among 
themselves the whole country, with its riches and its in- 
habitants, from the Rhine and the lake of Constance to 
the lake of the Waldstatten and the Aar. They loved 
war, liberty and herds. They despised cities, as the pris- 
ons of free men. The memories of Rome and of ancient 
Helvetia were sunk in shameful oblivion. 

Shortly after these, the Huns swarmed forth from the 
wildernesses of Asia in numberless hordes. They pillaged 
the world. Their faces were so hideous that they could 
hardly be called human ; their deeds were still less human. 
These destroyers traversed Germany, Gaul and Italy. 
Some of their bands passed through the Helvetian terri- 
tory, penetrated into Rhetia, into the districts on the Aar, 
and spread over the neighborhood of Augusta Rauraco- 
rum and of Basilia (Bale), formerly a Roman city. They 
stopped nowhere ; but everywhere flames, blood and tears 
marked their passage. 

Then came the Burgundians, a vigorous race. They 
established themselves in Gaul, on both sides of the Jura, 
in Savoy, on lake Leman, in Lower Yalais, and as far a3 
the Aar, where the French language is now spoken. They 
built strong fortresses, raised Geneva from its ruins, and, 
probably, Avenche on the ashes of Aventicum. On the 
heights near lake Leman, where Roman Lausonium for- 
merly stood, they founded Lausanne anew, and several 
other places. 

Then, from the South, over the highest Alps, came the 



►560.] GOTHS AXD BURGUNDIANS. 15 

powerful Goths. Italy was already their prey ; all Khetia, 
with her valleys and mountain pastures, shared the same 
fate. The power of the Goths extended far beyond the 
lake of Wallenstatt even to the Sitters (the small rivers of 
Appenzell), over the St. Gotthard into the valleys of Uri 
and not less into Glarus. Fear was in all places. 

These successive invasions effaced the arts and industry 
of olden time; the laws, customs and languages formerly 
in use. Even the name of Helvetia was lost. Men heard 
only of the AUemanni, the Goths and the Burgundians. 

Wherever the AUemanni came, they destroyed the cities. 
They dwelt in isolated farm-houses or in hamlets. Their 
bondsmen, with their wives and children, served them as 
shepherds, husbandmen and mechanics. Whenever they 
wished to favor one of these, they gave him inalienable 
lands, at ground-rent and man-service. Their herds sup- 
plied them with meat, milk and cheese. The whole coun- 
try was pasturage and undivided common. The soil for- 
merly cultivated became a wilderness. Bushes grew 
where once the Roman plough had been. Around the 
lake of Constance were immense forests, full of bears 
and wolves. 

In Upper Rhetia, the Goths preserved their warlike 
spirit, but their manners were more gentle. They made 
tiie people serfs, it is true, but left to them their ancient 
customs. They did not destroy the Roman fortresses they 
found, but built new ones. Living in their high towers, 
the signiors and counts governed tlieir tributary valleys in 
the name of their king, who dwelt in Italy. 

The Burgundians showed themselves the most humane 
of all. They appropriated only a third part of the land 
and serfs. They did not exterminate the ancient inhabit- 
ants, but made them subjects, and inferior in rights. They 
established themselves among them, mingled their own 
language and customs with theirs, so that at last the two 
became one people. Even in our day this people is dis- 
tinguished from the rest of the Confederates by the hered- 
itary but disfigured idiom called Romain, of the districts of 
Vaud, Freiburg, and Neuchatel. 

The dominion of all these foreign nations was of short 



16 THE FRANKS. [550- 

duration. Another people made their appearance, mora 
powerful, more daring, more shrewd than those who had 
preceded them. These were the Franks. They came 
from afar, across the Low Countries, and with fire and 
sword quickly made themselves masters of all Gaul. They 
established themselves in the conquered cities, and the 
country, from them, was called France. When they en- 
countered the power of the Allemanni on the Rhine, a long 
struggle took place between the two people. At last the 
Allemanni were completely and irretrievably vanquished 
in a terrible conflict, and those who dwelt along the Ehine, 
in Suabia and in Helvetia, fell under the dominion of the 
victors. 

A short time afterwards, the Burgundians also perished 
by discord and the vices of their princes. The Goths took 
possession of the Burgundian Alps and of Geneva; the 
Franks, of the rest of the Burgundian territory. 

But the latter, only, kept what they won; not so the 
Goths. When their dominion came to an end in Italy, 
their power over the Alpine region perished also. The 
Frank king, Dietbert [Dagobert?], did not hesitate. He 
marched with his troops, and conquered Rhetia and the 
rest of the country. 

Thus, at last, after more than five centuries of vicissi- 
tudes and changes, all Helvetia was again united under 
the sceptre of a single sovereign, as it had been under the 
Romans. 



CHAPTER YI. 



DOMINION AND RULE OF THE FRANKS. 
[A. D. 050 to 900.] 

The new masters divided the country into two parts, 
because they had acquired possession of them at different 
times, and because the inhabitants themselves spoke dif- 
ferent languages. The country occupied by the Allemanni, 
and where German was spoken^ that is, Rhetia and Thuri' 



-900.] Feudal oRGANIZATlo^^. 1? 

gau,* was united to Suabia. The other districts, in which 
Komain was spoken, or which had been taken from the 
Burgundians, as Geneva, Yalais, Neuchatel, and wliat 
now belongs to Berne, Solothurn, Freiburg, and Yaud, 
were united with Savo}^, and called Little Burgundy. 

The mighty kings of France, chiefs of a warlike people, 
organized the governments of countries as they did thcii 
armies. They placed a general-in-chief, or duke, over a 
broad territory ; commandants, or counts, governed sepa- 
rate portions of this territory, or districts ; and other va- 
liant captains received large domains in these districts, in 
fee or fief. In those times money was rare. Kings 
therefore recompensed the services of their warriors with 
lands and their revenue. Among the property which they 
gave away in conquered countries, all the inhabitants, with 
their houses, farms and cattle were included ; then the 
inhabitants iDccame serfs. The serf could own no prop- 
erty, as he was himself the property of his signior, and 
must account to the latter for all he held. Thurigau and 
Rhetia were under the duke of Suabia or Allemannia, 
and the rest under the duke of Little Burgundy. 

Thus the whole country was divided, with its inhabit- 
ants and cattle ; what the Iving had not given or enfeoffed 
to his counts, nobles, or officers, remained his own prop- 
erty, and was managed for his profit. The free Franks 
only, however few in number, constituted the nation ; the 
multitude of subjugated inhabitants were counted for noth- 
ing, had no civil rights, were serfs, infamous and defence- 
less. The lot of these serfs was lamentable, indeed, in the 
early times; their master could, at his will, punish them, 
give them away, sell them, even put them to death, with- 
out being called to account. They were hardly looked 
upon as human, but rather as a kind of cattle ; thus they 
were united without any marriage ceremony, and the new- 
born children became the property of the mother's master, 
when the father belonged to anotlier lord. 

So barbarous and savage were those times. 

• All the region enclosed bratween the lake of Constance and the Rhi'n* 
on one side, the Aar and the St. Gotthard on the other, was then called 
Thurigau. ^ 



18 AKCIENT BISHOPRICS. 

CHAPTER YII. 

THE (CHRISTIAN RELIGION PENETRATES THE LAND. 

Through the midst of the darkness of the times came 
messengers of Grod, pious men, to preach to the heathen 
the kingdom of heaven, and to announce the crucified one. 
They were military men who had heard the word of eter- 
nal salvation in other countries; men of elevated rank, 
often kings' sons, who, like the holy apostles, renounced 
the pleasures of the world to confess Jesus among the 
heathen. It is said that, even in the time of the Romans, 
hardly two centuries after the birth of the Savior, such a 
king's son, named Lucius, had sown the seed of the faith 
among the Rhetian mountains, under danger of death. 
Somewhat later, others came among the Burgundians, and 
others also among the Allemanni in Thurgau. They 
gathered around them pious families, baptized young and 
old in the name of God, established small Christian com- 
munities, built churches and chapels. They also founded 
convents for the promotion of education, prayer and faith, 
and instituted bishops, who were called superintendants, 
over the other Christian teachers and communities. Even 
before the country became Frank, there was a bishop at 
Coire (Chur) in Rhetia, a city which first became import- 
ant towards the close of the Roman dominion; also at 
Augusta Rauracorum, at Yindonissa and at Aventicum, 
as well as at Geneva and at Octodurum in Yalais."^ 

But when the Franks, already Christians, became mas- 
ters of our country, then the work of conversion was for 
the first time carried forward with zeal ; priests were pro- 
tected, bishops revered, churches and convents endowed. 
A tithe was imposed on the products of the soil for the 

* The seats of the Christian bishoprics have not remained in all these 
cities, but in a long course of disasters have beea removed to undestroyed 
places. Thus the bishop's see was transferred from the ruins of ancient 
Augusta Rauracorum to Bale, that of Aventicum to Lausanne, that ol 
Vindonissa to Constance on the lake of this name, that of Octodurum to 
Sion (Sitten) in Upper Valais. 



EARLY CHRISTIAN TEACHERS. 19 

support of ecclesiastics ; voluntary contributions increased 
the magnificence of God's service. As money was rare, 
contributions were more easily made in products of the 
soil and in real estate. That which was conferred on re- 
ligious institutions was looked upon as given, not to mor- 
tal men, but to God, and to the saints of God, who were 
revered, and as a loan to be repaid by endless enjoyments 
after death. Thus, by degrees, churches and convents be- 
came wealthy, rich in lands and rents. 

From foreign countries came an always increasing num- 
ber of preachers of the Cross, to extirpate the last remains 
of paganism. For, in the thick forests which bordered the 
lake of Zurich, and in the remote valleys among the moun- 
tains, long dwelt half-savage men without any knowledge 
of the living God. Upon the heights of the hills and in 
the depths of the woods they sacrificed cattle and horses 
as victims to their idols ; at the beginning of each new 
year they made a horrible uproar with cries and shouts, 
and by beating on noisy instruments, to drive away wicked 
spirits, sorcerers and witches ; but welcomed the opening 
of spring with huge bonfires on all the mountams, as 
thank-offerings to the good gods. Many superstitious fears 
about ghosts and spirits tormented these poor blinded 
heathen ; they believed in all kinds of presages and pre- 
dictions, in the influence of good and evil days, and in 
similar self-deceptions. 

Therefore the pious men who brought the tidings of 
salvation to these heathen are to be held in high esteem. 
Sigebert came from the country of the Franks, and preaclied 
in the wildernesses of Rhetia. lie built his cell in the 
rough angle of the mountains, where the convent of Dis- 
entis now stands. Columban and Mangold long taught 
upon the Aar, the Reuss and the lake of Zurich, a.s did 
the zealous Gall us. The latter finally established his her- 
mitage in the solitude of the high mountain-valley, near 
the lake of Constance, where, in memory of him, stands 
the convent of St. Gallon. Among the mountains which 
border the lake of the Waldstatten, the word of God was 
announced by pious Meinrad, who built his cell in the 
dark forest (Finsterwaldj near the Sihl, where in our days 



20 BENEFICIAL EFFECl^S 

flourishes the convent of Einsiedeln(Our Lady of the Her- 
mits). A duke founded the chapter of canons upon the 
hill near Zurich, and endowed it with much property on 
the Albis ; his brother built another monastery on the 
lake of the Waldstatten, where once, probably in the Ro- 
man time, there had been a simple light tower for vessels, 
and where the city of Lucerne now shines. Shortly after- 
wards, the rich count Bero erected near the same place 
another convent or monastery, even now called Beromun- 
ster. 

But I should be long in coming to an end, if I tried to 
name all the pious works of that period. The poor pa- 
gans in the districts saw the consecrated walls of churches 
and convents rising on every side ; all day long they heard 
the words of salvation and of the Cross, and all the night 
long the hymns and prayers of the monks in their cells. 
Their hearts were moved, and they went to baptism. 

It must be acknowledged that the Christianity of those 
early days was very poor and feeble ; conversions were 
^too numerous and too sudden ; the teachers were often as 
rude and ignorant as the hearers of the word. Whoever 
was baptized, had learnt a prayer, attended church, and 
could make the sign of the cross, was called a Christian, 
even though he had not given up his savage customs and 
heathen superstitions. Saints were frequentl}^ placed upon 
the seats of idols, and pagan feasts changed by name to 
Christian festivals. The fear of the devil was more pow- 
erful than the love of God. Sinners thought they could 
easily purchase th-eir everlasting salvation, and redeem 
themselves from hell by ceremonies, and gifts to convents 
and churches. 

ISTevertheless, the new religion did not remain entirely 
inefficacious. Dawn always precedes the brightness of 
broad daylight. The belief in the one living God, in the 
compensations of eternity, and that we men here below 
are all children of the Father in Heaven, became general. 
Many pious priests and bishops, with their wives, shone 
as bright examples among the rest of the households ; for, 
in those days, marriage was not forbidden to priests and 
bishops. Many Christian lords bettered the condition of 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 21 

their subjects, and many serfs received privileges which 
rendered their lot more endurable. In many convents 
schools were established, and the writings of ancient sages 
collected and copied ; for the art of printing was not dis- 
covered until several centuries later. The light of science 
especially shone forth from the cells of the abbey of St. 
Gallen upon the darkness of the land. The people were 
instructed in agriculture and rural economy by the her- 
mits and monks, who, in their wildernesses, extirpated the 
forests and cleared the soil ; fallow lands were broken up. 
The people were taught to burn lime and to build with 
stone ; until then they had only miserable wooden huts ; 
they learned to weave wool and to use woollen clothes, in- 
stead of the linen and skins they had previously worn. 
They even began to plant vines upon the heights of lake 
Leman and of the lake of Zurich. 

All this was not, indeed, the work of the monks alone, 
but more especially of the Franks, when they established 
themselves in the country ; they brought with them do- 
mestic economy, the ox and the plough, wherever their 
king had granted to them, in fee or in fief, lands with men 
and women slaves thereon. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

HOW THE COUNTRY BECOMES PART OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE, AND 

CITIES ARE BUILT. 

[A, D. »00 to 1200.] 

The kings of powerful France were for a long time 
more mighty than all the others, and the most mighty was 
king Charlemagne. He caused himself to be crowned at 
Rome, as emperor of the ancient Roman empire, which 
he proposed to reestablish, and by the name of emperor 
he wished to show that he was a king of kings. But 
his sons and grandsons were always quarrelling among 
themselves, and, often, men of weak minds. Each wished 



22 THE HUNGARIANS. [900- 

to have a portion of the sovereignty, and they divided 
that vast empire. One took France, another Italy, a third 
Germany, and they carried on great wars against each 
other without cessation. In consequence of this division, 
that portion of the Helvetian territory which had, until 
then, been attached to the duchy of Suabia, became part 
of the German empire. 

As there were so many kings, and they were continually 
at war with each other, great confusion prevailed every 
where. This pleased the principal officers and governors 
of the kings, that is, the dukes and counts. They ruled 
thenceforward without fear of responsibility, and, at their 
deaths, gave their offices to their sons, considering the 
duchies and counties as hereditary fiefs, or even as their 
own properties. The duke of Suabia would obey no one; 
the duke of Burgundy assumed the title of king. As the 
dukes revolted against the kings, so the counts revolted 
against the dukes, hired troops and acted as sovereigns. 
Even the bishops did not remain idle. Eminent and 
powerful in their dioceses and domains, they imitated the 
counts and dukes, made themselves independent of the 
secular arm, donned casque and cuirass, and rode at the 
head of their troops. As did the bishops towards dukes 
and counts, so did the pope of Kome towards emperors and 
kings ; assumed authority over them, over all the bishops 
and churches in their dominions, and, finally, over their 
people. 

At last, as a consequence of this general confusion, the 
signiors and counts established in Helvetia, no longer paid 
respect to the dukes of Suabia, but, ruling by their own 
authority, they feared only the kings or German emperors, 
or flattered them for ambitious purposes. Usually at 
variance with each other, only a common danger could 
unite them. 

Such a danger threatened them all at the time when 
Henry, surnamed the Fowler, ruled the German empire. 
From the regions of the East, from the Black Sea and 
along the Danube, once more appeared a warlike and 
Bavage people, all on horseback, numerous as the sands of 
the sea. They were called Hangarians. With sword and 



-1200.] people's fortresses. 23 

fire they quickly swept over Germany, quickly over Italy. 
Nothing stopped them, neither rivers nor mountains. 
But they did not attack strong fortresses and castles, be- 
cause they did not understand the art of besieging. Thia 
was nine hundred years after the birth of Christ. 

Then the emperor ordered that all large villages in the 
country should be surrounded with walls, ramparts and 
ditches, against these terrible enemies. Thus St. Gallen 
and Bale were encircled by walls, because they were on 
the frontiers, as well as Zurich on the lake. These were 
like fortresses for the people, to which they could flee with 
their property in case of need. One-ninth of the free and 
noble men, those who had but little landed estate being 
selected, were obliged to dwell in these national fortresses, 
to defend them in war, and govern them in peace. Thus 
were founded the cities and their councils. The free nobles, 
charged with the city government, assumed the name of 
patricians. 

The example once given, many people's fortresses or cities 
were soon built, as Lucerne and Solothurn ; and, later, 
Schaff hausen, at the landing-place of the Rhine, where this 
stream makes its mighty rush over the rocks, took the 
place of the cluster of boat-houses (Schiffhausern). As 
m German Helvetia, so also in Burgundian Helvetia, when 
the emperors at last added this also to the German empire, 
and made the dukes of Zahringen imperial bailiffs over it. 
Here were already the very ancient cities of Geneva and 
Lausanne. To these the imperial bailiff, Berthold, duke 
of Zahringen, added the city of Freiburg, which he built 
in Uechtland* (in 1179), as a means of offence and defence 
against the power of the refractory lords and counts of the 
neighborhood. His son did the same, and built the city 
of Berne on a peninsula formed by the river Aar, in 1191. 

All these, and other cities, which rose up here and there, 
as open villages were walled and fortified, received the 
political organization, the franchises and privileges enjoyed 

• Uechtland: waste or pasture land; applied to what was probably 
the ancient Pagus Aventicensis of the Romans, embracing much of the 
present territory of Berne, Neuchiltel, Freiburg, <fec., which had been d^- 
FAdtated by the Alleaiaaui* 



24 CITY-ORGANIZATION. [900- 

by the most ancient cities of Germany. The laborers and 
artisans who established themselves in a city acquired the 
rights of burghership, were obliged to keep a spear and a 
sword for defence, to pay taxes and contributions, to have 
a fire-bucket ready in each house ; for the houses in cities, 
as well as in villages, were then built of wood. Impor- 
tant matters were discussed in a general assembly of the 
citizens, but the government of the commonwealth was en- 
trusted to a council chosen by the burghers, and presided 
over by an avoyer or burgomaster. Small disputes were 
decided by the council, but the higher jurisdiction (blut- 
gericht, jus-gladii) belonged to the imperial bailiff, the 
vicar of the abbot, or the count's lieutenant, in short, to 
the governor of the city, whoever he might be. 

The security found behind their walls against inimical 
attacks, attracted many people to the cities ; the increase of 
population fostered trade, commerce and the mechanic 
arts. Markets were established, to which the countryman 
brought the surplus products of his fields and flocks, and 
where the citizen gave in exchange the fruits of his industry. 
The comforts of the citizens increased with their ingenuity, 
and softened their manners ; their union and strength 
caused them to be respected more and more by the signiors 
and nobles who dwelt in the neighborhood, in isolated 
castles and fortresses. Dukes, kings and emperors liked 
to stop on their journeys, and enjoy the comforts of the 
cities, to which they, in return, granted various privileges 
and franchises. But the prosperity of the cities excited 
the jealousy of the counts, knights and signiors of the 
country. They also strove to increase their power and 
revenues ; and to obtain new fiefs and grants, served with 
redoubled ardor the kings, dukes and convents ; or made 
small war upon their neighbors, for the sake of plunder. 
Several, who knew their best interests, lightened the yoke 
of servitude which pressed upon their subjects, and were 
pleased to see the people increase upon their lands. As 
by right of conquest all the soil, with man and beast and 
tree (mit Wohn' und Weid' und Wald), had become their 
property or fief, they divided the land, when arable or 
pasture, into large farms or single house-lots (usually of 



-1200.J StGI^IORAt RIGHTS. 25 

twelve acres), among the householders, who paid therefoi 
in body -service, in rent and tithes. Thus villages, farms 
and plantations were multiplied. Every new house on 
signioral land paid a tribute in fowls and eggs. At the 
death of a vassal, father of a family, his children gave to 
their signior, or to the convent from which they held, the 
best dress from the chest, the best piece of furniture from 
the house, and the best beast from the stable. After thus 
satisfying the "right to the best chattels" (todfalls), the 
heirs kept the rest as if it were their own inheritance and 
property. 

Thus the revenues of the signiors were increased by the 
body-service and rents due from their vassals. The un- 
divided lands, mostly thick forest, remained the lord's 
property. He allowed to his subjects and vassals all the 
wood they required, and, at his good pleasure, granted to 
them, on a rent-charge or as a gratuity, permission to 
gather acorns for the fattening of their swine, as well as 
free range for cattle, as far as the limits of the next hamlet 
or farm. 

But, without permission of the signior, no one could cut, 
burn or clear, in whole or in part, those forests of lofty 
growth, to convert them into meadows or fields. Still, the 
signiors were pleased to see households multiplied and 
new farms established. Thus they allowed portions of 
their woods to be cut and cleared, and received ground 
and clearance-rent therefor from the new comers. In this 
manner were formed numerous villages, even now called 
Schwanden or Schwiendi, Ruti or Rcuti.* But the farmers, 
if not before free, remained serfs, as their fathers had been, 
and all their possessions were considered the property of 
their signior. For the latter furnished to them, not only 
the soil, but also the wood for a house and stable, a plough, 
a cart, seeds for the field, a hatchet and ladder for house- 
work, a cow for the stable, a sow and pigs, a cock and hens 
for the yard. This is why they owed rent for everything, 
with man-service in their lords' fields, cart-work to his 



• Bot.h these words signify to clear; the first by burning, the second 
by felling or uprooting, the trees and bushes. 

2 ^ 



26 DUl^iS OP' THE SERFS. [l20(% 

castle, tithes and taxes on their crops, with cheese, cloth, 
hens and eggs. 

Such was the origin of the cities and of numerous vil 
lages in Switzerland. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MORE ABOUT THE CITIES AND THE GREAT SIGNIORS IN THE COUNTRY. 

[A. D. 1200 to 1290.] 

Thus, in proportion as the peasants gained in comforts, 
the greater revenue did the numerous imposts paid by 
them yield to the counts, nobles, abbots and other signiors. 
But especially did these latter become free and indepen- 
dent when the dukes of Zahringen died out ; as, at their ex- 
tinction, the dignity and office of imperial lieutenant, or 
bailiff, ceased to be hereditary, and was conferred tempora- 
rily, sometimes on one count, sometimes on another. From 
this moment, the nobles had no reason to fear the over- 
powering force or authority of any one among their peers. 
Each endeavored to be first, or hoped to become so. 

At that time flourished many noble families which are 
now extinct. The counts of Savoy had extensive domains, 
fiefs and rio^hts, in Yalais and in Yaud, where the bishoo 
of Lausanne also reigned as sovereign on a small scale. 
The counts of Neuchatel, who granted great franchises to 
the city of that name, reigned over French and German 
districts on the lake of Bienne (Biel), as well as on the Aar 
and Zihl. The counts of Kyburg, who were masters of all 
the country between Zurich and the lake of Constance, and 
who built upon their own territory the cities of Diessen- 
hofen on the Rhine, and of Winterthur near Zurich, ac- 
knowledged no one in the country more powerful than 
themselves. Still, near them, in Aargau, were the counts 
of Habsburg, already long possessors, in their own right, 
of a large domain in the region where ancient Yindonissa 
had flourished. They were, moreover, patrons of the rich 
abbey of Seckingen, which held much property in Glarus | 



-12drf.] COUNTS OP HABSBtJRG. 27 

then they received in fief the very ancient Burgundian 
county of Eore, in Aargau. This county extended as far 
as Muri, where, two centuries before, the wife of a count 
of Habsburg, then called counts of Altenburg, had founded 
a Benedictine abbey (1025). On extinction of the counts 
of Eore, their domains had fallen to the counts of Lenzburg, 
from whom descended also the counts of Baden, and whose 
great riches now increased the eminence of the counts of 
Habsburg. 

The counts of Kapperswyl, also, who built the city of 
that name on the lake of Zurich, were powerful and re- 
spected in the Marches of Ehetia ; but the rich counts of 
Toggenburg were even more so. The original residence 
of this family was on a rock not far from the convent of 
Fischingen. It was there that a count Henry of Toggen- 
burg, in a fit of jealousy, threw his beautiful wife Ida from 
a window of the lofty castle, because he had seen her wed- 
ding-ring on the finger of one of his servants. A raven 
had stolen the ring from an open window, and afterwards 
dropped it. But Ida, as she fell, seizing fast hold of some 
bushes growing out of the precipice, was saved by divine 
providence, and her innocence manifested. She closed her 
life in a cell at Fischingen, as she could no longer love her 
husband ; who, besides wreaking his anger upon her, had 
caused the innocent servant to be dragged to death at the 
tail of a wild horse. 

I could also name many other families of counts and 
barons, then very powerful signiors, such as the counts of 
Werdenberg and Sargans, of Montfort and Sax, of Vatz, 
and Ehezuns, in Upper Khetia, and others in Burgundian 
and German districts. But who would care to know them 
all, when nothing is now left of them but the obscure re- 
membrance of their wars, or the traditions of their atro- 
cities, which, still float around the ruins of their fallen rock- 
castles. 

Many of these ancient and noble families became extinct 
and forgotten at a very early period. This happened quite 
frequently when the opinion prevailed that religion and 
honor required men to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
sword in hand, for the purpose of rescuing the holy sepul- 



28 THE CKtJSADES. fl200- 

clire from tlie possession of heatliens and infidels. Armed 
pilgrims from all Christian nations united in countless 
numbers, and departed, year after year, for the promised 
land, all conspicuous by the sign of the Cross sewed upon 
their garments. Young and old went, even children, 
princes, kings, emperors, nuns and princesses. But of 
thousands and thousands, only a few ever returned from 
these crusades ; for most of them died on the way, or per- 
ished in Asia and Africa, by hanger, disease, the sword, 
the plague, leprosy, or in the prisons of the infidels. This 
widowed many a noble lady, made many a mother child- 
less. 

That which proved the ruin of counts and knights, ben- 
efited the serfs in the villages and farms, and even the 
burghers in the cities. The serfs were treated with more 
humanity, to induce them to remain at home and not seek 
freedom under the banners of the Cross. Privileges were 
granted to them that they might be employed as soldiers 
in internal wars. And the burghers of the cities enriched 
themselves by all kinds of trade and traffic for the arm- 
ing, equipment and provisioning of the troops which in- 
cessantly departed for the Holy Land. An extensive 
interchange of merchandise took place through Hungary 
with Greece, and through the ports of Italy with Egypt 
and the East. Bale, especially, flourished by this com- 
merce, in which even Cyprus wine was brought there; 
and Zurich, where the manufacture of costly silks was 
established. 

As comforts and riches increased in the new cities, the 
burghers became more enterprising, acquired greater priv- 
ileges, and extended their city -territory by purchase. Some 
ransomed their cities from the oppressive sovereignty of 
the bishops, abbots and convents, under which they had 
long lived, and gladly placed them under the protection 
of the German empire, that they might be subject to no 
one but the emperor himself, or to an imperial bailiff acting 
in his name. The Solothurners made themselves inde- 
pendent of the convent of St. Ursus, which had possessed 
great influence in their municipal affairs, because it had 
•argely contributed to the foundation of the commune. 



-1290.] IMPERIAL TRIBUTE. 29 

The abbot of the rich convent of Allerheiligen (All Saints) 
had signioral rights over the borough of Schaffhausen, 
and exercised them by a bailiff. But now the citizens al- 
lowed him to nominate only one half of their council, 
themselves choosing the other half. Soon they excluded 
the convent from all share in the government, and placed 
themselves, like other cities, under the protection of the 
empire. The people of Bale did the same with their 
bishop, so that, by degrees, they became their own mas- 
ters, under the safeguard of the empire, as Berne and 
Freiburg had long been, by imperial favor. 

Many small cities followed the example of the larger, 
as they found opportunity. They took advantage of the 
troubles of the empire. When the kings or other signiors, 
from whom they held, needed money, they opened the city 
purse ; in times of common danger, they were ready with 
hand and sword. Every citizen was plain and economi- 
cal at home, but liberal for the public good. The private 
houses were small, but the public edifices, council-halls 
and churches large and stately. The artisans rivalled 
each other in producing good work, and in improving 
their trades by care, industry and ingenuity. The trades 
corporations were watchful to prevent negligence. Thus 
industrial pursuits became lucrative and honorable, and no 
one endeavored to appear more than he really was. In 
the houses prevailed piety, good faith and industry ; in 
the councils, justice, prudence and disinterestedness. No 
one thought of living at the public expense, but the citi- 
zens were always found ready to provide for the wants of 
the commonwealth, and to contribute to useful establish- 
ments and institutions. 

Through these means the cities increased, became pow- 
erful and acquired valuable franchises, real estate, the right 
of levying taxes, and other advantages. All therefore en- 
deavored to hold directly of the emperor and empire, and 
to be free of other lords, that they might choose their own 
magistrates and judges, and have the sole management of 
their municipal pro})crty. For this purpose they willingly 
paid the imperial tribute. The emperor's rights were ad- 
ministered by an imperial bailiff, who had the higher juris- 



80 GROWTH OF LIBERTY. [1200- 

diction also, because, as a stranger, he could be more 
impartial than one citizen towards another. In case of 
war, the cities chose, as protectors and general, some pow- 
erful and valiant signiors and counts, whom they paid. 
For greater security, they often formed leagues with each 
other, as well as with the imperial cities in Suabia and on 
the Ehine. 

Thus after long subjection and servitude, liberty began 
to raise her head among the convents and castles, and es- 
pecially in the cities. No signioral tyranny, whether from 
within or from without, can flourish on Swiss soil. Here 
noble freedom finds a home, as does the eagle on the 
\"ocky summits of the land. 



CHAPTER X. 



OF THE COMMUNITIES IN THE MOUNTAINS OF SCHWYZ, APPENZELL, 

RHETIA AND VALAIS. 

[A. D. 1200 to 1290.] 

Behind the lakes, at the foot of the high Alps, whither, 
in very ancient times, probably after the Roman victories, 
the last Cymbri had fled, lived their descendants, separated 
from the world. No Allemann, no Burgundian, no Frank, 
had wished to venture into their poor and frightful wilder- 
nesses. Undisturbed, they fed their herds upon unknown 
mountains. No knight's castle was to be seen upon their 
rocks, no city in their valleys. The Bruchen-buren long 
had but a single church ; it stood in the Muottathal ; thither 
came the people from Schwyz, Unterwalden and Uri. 
The inhabitants of these three valley-districts w^ere all of 
the same race ; as they long had but one church, so they 
lived under a common government, formed of experienced 
and upright men, chosen from among themselves. 

But when the people multiplied, each valley built its 
own church, and chose its own laodammann, council and 
tribunal. Thus Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden separated 



-1290.J IMPERIAL DOMAINS. 81 

their commonweal ths, but acted, in important matters, as 
one undivided community. Later (about 1150) the people 
of Unterwalden above the (forest of) Kernwald separated 
their interests from those who dwelt in the villages below 
the Kernwald, and each part of Unterwalden, thenceforth, 
had its own council and tribunal. Those above the Wald 
(Obwaldeners) had, according to ancient usage, bee a 
obliged to pay two-thirds of the common expenses, prob- 
ably because they were originally more numerous than 
those below the Wald (Nidwaldeners), and this was felt to 
be burdensome when the latter had become as strong and 
wealthy as themselves. Although thus separated, they 
remained united for important purposes, and always 
formed, as now, but one district or canton. 

No one pretended to any sovereignty over all these 
mountains, except the emperor, and the people were pleased 
to be under the protection of that powerful prince. In in- 
ternal disputes, they usually had recourse to some imperial 
judge, and most willingly to the counts of Lenzburg. 

In their neighborhood still existed vast wildernesses and 
unexplored mountain- valleys. The emperors considered 
such lands as unappropriated, and, consequently, imperial 
domains, and often conveyed them to signiors or convents 
as gifts or fiefs. When the wildernesses were cleared, the 
peasants paid rent therefor to the kings, to the counts of 
Lenzburg and Rapperswyl, to the convents of Einsiedeln, 
Zurich and Beromunster, or to such other ecclesiastical 
and secular signiors as had been invested by the emperor. 
A pious baron, Konrad of Seldenburen, even built a con- 
vent, called Engelberg (1083), in a rough mountain-valley 
of [Jnterwalden, at the foot of snow-covered mount Titlis. 
This so pleased the pope of Rome that he took it under 
the immediate protection of the holy see. 

The monastery of Einsiedeln, in the same region, was 
much older and richer. The flocks of the abbot fed on all 
the mountains, because all the surrounding wilderness had 
formerly been conveyed to his community. The shep- 
herds of Schwyz, ignorant of worldly affairs, knew noth- 
ing of such a donation until they suddenly found them- 
selves in conflict with the abbot, who sent his flocks into 



82 ABBOTS OF ST. GALLEJf, [l-OO* 

Alps whicli from time immemorial had descended to them 
from their fathers. The abbot appealed for assistance 
(1113) to the emperor, who decided in his favor. The 
Schwyzers were astonished at this, and said: "If the pro- 
tection of the emperor and the empire be of no avail in 
securing our rights, we have no need of it." Those of Uri 
and Unterwalden held with them, said as they said, and 
ceased to obey the emperor. This irritated the emperor ; 
he put them under ban, and the bishop of Constance anath- 
ematized the land, so that no bell should be rung in it, 
and no holy sacrament be administered to the living or 
the dead, until the emperor was obeyed. This did not in- 
timidate the Schwyzers, but they compelled their priests 
to celebrate divine service as before, and drove the recu- 
sants out of the country. Their flocks multiplied, and their 
Alps remained fertile, in spite of the bishop's anathema ; 
and the peasants freely sent the products of their flocks to 
the public markets of Zurich and Lucerne. Afterwards, 
when the emperor was in need, and wanted valiant men 
for his army, he sent the count of Lenzburg with a friend- 
ly message to them. He said : " The emperor loves vali- 
ant men ; go to the war for him as your fathers did, and 
care not for the talk of the priests." At this, six hundred 
young men followed him to war for the emperor, to obtain 
glory and booty, and not one of all the people cared for 
the talk of the priests. 

In the high mountains near the lake of Constance, also, 
lived many free people, long under the protection of the 
emperor and the empire. There the abbot of St. Gallen 
had always possessed extensive domains, and bonded serfs 
who cultivated his land, and were called abbey-people. On 
the Sitter, at the foot of the high rocky Alps, was the ab- 
bot's house and cell, whither the signior often came, to 
maintain his rights. Many people built houses at this 
place, and about the abbot's cell (Abteszelle) sprang up 
the borough of Appenzell, from which the whole moun- 
tain country finally took its name. Over his abbey-people 
the abbot placed his bailiff, but the freemen at Appenzell, 
Ilundwyl, Urnaschen and Teuffen, under the immediate 
protection of the emperor, like the free communities on the 



-1290.] THE WALSORS. 33 

lake of the Waldstatten, chose their landammann, conncil 
and tribunal from among themselves, and had their impe- 
rial bailiff. 

Still the abbots of St. Gallen by degrees acquired con- 
stantly increasing rights over the whole land by purchase 
or donation ; at last they even obtained from the emperor 
the imperial tribute, the penal jurisdiction and the sover- 
eignty of these four small imperial states. As this did not 
prejudice the ancient liberties of the people, they consid- 
ered it the same thing whether they paid their tribute for 
protection to an imperial bailiff or to a powerful abbot. 
On the other hand, the convent of St. Gallen was well 
content with the fine tribute and dues, and did not seek in 
any way to diminish the long-inherited rights of the shep- 
herd-people ; and, that the peculiar abbey-people might not 
be too different from the rest who were free, the abbot 
granted to them authority to choose a landammann, with 
other important privileges. This was in recompense for 
the fidelity and valor with which they had often served 
their warlike abbots in battle. 

The poor people in the Rhetian highlands did not enjoy 
such good fortune. Hundreds and hundreds of strong- 
castles of counts and barons hung on the steep rocks in all 
their valleys, like a slave-chain on the neck of their coun- 
try. There were the bishop of Coire, the abbots of Disentis 
and Pfeffers, the counts of Bregenz, Werdenberg, Mont- 
fort, Metsch and Misox, the rich barons of Rhezuns, Mon- 
talt, Aspermont, Batz, and many other powerful nobles. 
The city of Coire alone enjoyed important rights under 
the sovereignty of her bishops, and here and there an iso- 
lated valley, such as the Pregallerthal, on the Italian bor- 
der, possessed hereditary privileges. All the rest of the 
people, who generally spoke Romantsch,* were and re- 
mained tributary, subject to labor-dues, and serfs. Only 
the Walsors, who spoke German, were free in their farms 
and hamlets, as the Franks had found them when thcv 
conquered the land. It is said that these Walsors were 

* Said to be the ancient poj)ular Latin idiom, the language of fugitivej 
from Italy, driven out by the Gauls. 
2* 



84 COUNTS OF SAVOY. [1290. 

fugitives of Allemannic race, who sought refuge here in the 
time of the Gothic dominion, and inhabited secluded moun- 
tain-valleys, the rough Avers, and Brettigau in the Rhine- 
wald, at the foot of the Rhine glacier. The same people, 
also, first inhabited and rendered productive the frightful 
solitudes of Davos, which they received in fief from the 
baron of Batz (1250). 

Many counts and signiors also ruled in Yalais, where the 
city of Sion preserved its municipal privileges, with great 
difficulty, under a burgomaster and council. In Lower 
Valais, the count of Savoy was long among the most 
powerful, but in Upper Yalais, the bishop of Sion. The 
mountaineers in the valleys and communes of Upper Ya- 
lais, all speaking German, had also valiant German hearts, 
and maintained the ancient freedom of their forefathers. 
They had divided their countrj^ into seven Zehnten (tith- 
ings). The council of the country was formed of repre- 
sentatives from the Zehnten, and presided over by their 
captain-general. Thus, under the protection of their own 
laws, they fed their flocks on the banks of the Rhone, 
even to its sources among the everlasting ice of the moun- 
tains. 



CHAPTER XL 



ABOUT THE GOOD EMPEROR, RUDOLF OF HABSBFRG, AND THE EVIL 
DESIGNS OF HIS SON ALBERT. 

[A. D. 1291 to 130T.] 

At this period, no signior in Switzerland was so re- 
spected for his humanity and probity, as well as valor, as 
count Rudolf of Habsburg. His castle was on the Wul- 
pelsberg in Aargau. The cities of Aarau, Baden, Melli 
gen, Diessenhofen, Sursee and others had him for their 
bailiff. - The Schwyzers also requested him to be theirs, 
in consequence of the trouble then existing on account of 
tiie quarrel between the emperor and pope. Already (in 
1251), Uri, Sohwyz and Zurich had formed a league with 



1291.] INCREASE OF FRANCHISES. 35 

each other to withstand the nobles in their castles. Zurich 
chose count Eudolf for her general. 

Kudolf was not so much beloved by the burghers of 
Bale, though more than were his noble brothers-in-armg 
and friends. In consequence of these latter having, on 
a day of the Carnival, insulted the beautiful wives and 
daughters of Bale, many bloody conflicts took place, and 
several of the audacious nobles fell under the blows of tho 
vigorous citizens. The defeat of his friends offended the 
count of Habsburg, and, to avenge them, he marched 
against the city with numerous troops. 

This war, however, came to a speedy and happy con- 
clusion. For the dukes and princes of Germany, on the 
death of their emperor, having long disputed who should 
be their king, at last elected count Kudolf of Habsburg.* 
" They chose him," as said the elector of Cologne, " be- 
cause he was wise and just, and beloved of God and men." 

When the Balese learnt that their enemy had become 
their king, they issued from their gates with every mark 
of respect, and invited him and his people to enter the 
city. Friendship was sworn on both sides. Joy and as- 
tonishment filled all the land. The principal men of the 
cities and of the country hastened to Brugg to congratulate 
the count and his wife. 

Although upon the first throne in Christendom, and in 
a distant country, emperor Rudolf, during his whole life, 
remained attached to the people of his native land. He 
granted new dignities to their nobility, new franchises to 
their cities, or confirmed by his kingly word those they 
already possessed. The people of Zurich, Schaffhausen 
and Solothurn were to be held to answer only before their 
own judges and according to their own laws ; Laupen and 
Lucerne received the same franchises as Berne, and Lu- 
cerne held directly from the empire ; Bicnne received the 
same municipal franchises as Bale ; Aarau was not obliged 
to recognize any other judge than her own avoyer ; Win- 
terthur, Diessenhofen and other cities acquired other and 
similar rights. He confirmed to the three Waldstatten 

* King of the GermaDs and emperor of the Holy Roman empire. 



S6 THE PERPETUAL BOND. [129^ 

(Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden) the perpetual right of 
immediate dependence on the empire; he elevated the 
bishop of Lausanne and the abbot of Einseideln to the dig- 
nity of princes of the empire. In the Komain districts, 
where the counts of Savoy domineered, he reestablished 
the imperial power by force of arms, relieved Lausanne 
and Freiburg from the yoke of Savoy, and made again 
free of the empire whatever places had formerly been so. 
Foi these things, the cities and country testified their 
gratii'ide to him by abundant supplies in money and men. 

But other times came, when he was dead and his son 
Albert ascended the throne.* It was soon known that the 
latter looked only to the extension of his family domain 
by the incorporation of foreign territory, and that he disre 
garded the franchises of the cities and the country. There 
fore all feared for themselves. Then the people of Uri, 
Schwyz and Unterwalden, anticipating^ evil and dangerous 
times, assembled (1291) and swore to a Perpetual Bond,f 
by which they agreed to defend themselves and their fami- 
lies, with goods and chattels, against all and every, who- 
ever they might be, and to assist each other with advice 
and arms. Thenceforward they were called Confederates 
(Eidsgenossen : bound together by oath). The bishop of 
Constance also united in league with the counts of Savoy 
and with other counts and signiors against the king's 
designs, as well as wdth the abbot of St. Gallen and the 
city of Zurich. The German princes hated him no less, 
and chose count Adolph of Nassau for their sovereign. 

Now partisan wars spread everywhere, for and against 
Albert of Austria, from country to country, from city to 
city. Berne held with the count of Savoy, and made a 
league with Freiburg and Solothurn. Albert, with an army 
of Austrians, immediately invaded and ravaged the terri- 
tory of the bishop of Constance. In a bloody battle he 
took from king Adolf victory, life and the imperial crow^n. 
Then the confederates of the Waldstatten sent to him at 
Strassburg, to request him to guarantee their ancient fran- 

* The counts of Habsburg had also become dukes of Austria. 
■j* Bund: league, compact, treaty. I use the word Bond to distinguish 
^hat between the Swiss ca,utons from £^11 others. — Ti?., 



-1S07.J GESSLEll AND LANt)ENBERa. 3? 

chises. as his father of glorious memory had done. Bat he 
answeied that he thought of shortly proposing a change 
ia their situation. This reply greatly terrified the Con- 
federates. 

Cries of war and the clash of arms resounded through 
all Uechtland, from Solothurn to lake Leman. The signiors 
and counts, who were partisans of Albert, and hated the 
cities and their increasing power, marched against Berne. 
But the valiant burghers of the city, with auxiliaries from 
Solothurn and other places, and commanded by the expe- 
rienced Ulrich of Erlach, totally defeated (1298) the supe- 
rior forces of the enemy at Donnerbuhl, took and destroyed 
many castles and towers of the nobles, so that the renown 
of the city became great throughout all the land. There- 
upon king Albert himself entered the country and encamped 
before Zurich, on a hill whence he could look into the 
streets of the city. The Zurichers did not close their 
gates, though they were prepared for a vigorous resistance, 
but sent word that they were ready to acknowledge him as 
king, provided he acknowledged their franchises. As he 
had brought but few besieging engines with him, and saw 
so many armed people in the city (for even the wives and 
daughters had taken arms), he showed peaceful inclinations 
and confirmed the free constitution of the city. 

But he informed the Confederates in the Waldstatten that 
he wished to have them as dear children of his royal house, 
and that thev would do well to place themselves under the 
protection of Austria, as faithful subjects ; that he would 
make them rich by fiefs, knighthoods and booty. But 
when the mountaineers replied that they much preferred 
to remain in the ancient rights of their fathers, and in im- 
mediate dependence on the empire, he sent to them, as 
imperial bailiffs, severe and wicked men from his own ter- 
ritory, to oppress and harass them, that they might be 
desirous to detach themselves from the empire, and put 
themselves under the sovereignty of the house of Austria. 
He sent Hermann Gessler of Brunegg and the knight 
Beringer of Landenberg. They did as imperial bailiffs had 
never before done, and took up their abode in the land. 
Laudenberg went to the king's castle, near Sarnen in Ob- 

D 



MELCHTHAL, FltRSf 



[J^A 



walden, and Gessler built for himself a tower in the country 
of Uri. The taxes were increased, the smallest offences 
punished by imprisonment and heavy fines, the country- 
people treated with haughtiness and contempt. Glessler, 
passing on horseback before Stauffacher's new house, in 
the village of Steinen, cried out insultingly, " Shall peas- 
ants be allowed to build so finely ?" And when Arnold 
Anderhalden, of Melchthal in Unterwalden, was condemned 
for some slight offence to lose a yoke of fine oxen, Landen- 
berg's servant took the oxen from the plough and said, 
" Peasants may draw the plough themselves." But young 
Arnold, irritated by this insult, struck the servant and 
broke two of his fingers. Then he fled into the mountains. 
In revenge, Landenberg put oat both the eyes of Arnold's 
old father. 

Whoever, on the contrary, adhered to the bailiff and did 
his will, was treated with indulgence and was always in 
the right. But all did not escape, who, trusting in the 
protection of the bailiff, thought themselves entitled to do 
evil ; and, as there was no longer any justice to be had in 
the land, each man helped himself, and this occasioned 
many disorders. But the bailiffs laughed and persisted in 
their tyranny ; they not only trod under foot the chartered 
franchises of the people, sanctioned by emperors and kings, 
but disregarded the everlasting right to life which God 
has given to every man. 



CHAPTER XII. 



OP WILLIAII TELL AND THE THREE MEN IN RUTLI. 
[A. D. 1807.] 

"While the oppressors laughed and the oppressed 
groaned in the valleys of the Waldstatten, the wife of 
Werner Stauffacher, in the village of Steinen, said to her 
husband : " How long shall the oppressors laugh and the 
oppressed groan? Shall foreigners be masters of this 
3oil, and heirs of our property ? What are the men of the 



tao7.] AKD SlWUi'FACHER. 89 

mountains good for? Must we mothers nurse beggars at 
our bosoms, and bring up maid-servants for foreigners ? 
Let tLere be an end to this !" 

Thereupon Werner Stauffacher, without a word, went 
down to Brunnen on the lake, and over the water to Uri, 
to Walter Furst, in Attinghausen. With him he found 
concealed Arnold of Melchthal, who had fled across the 
mountain from the wrath of Landeuberg. 

They talked of the misery of their country, and of the 
cruelty of the foreign bailiffs whom the king had sent to 
them, in contempt of their hereditary franchises and lib- 
erties. They also called to mind that they had in vain 
appealed against the tyranny of the bailiffs before the king, 
and that the latter had threatened to compel them, in spite 
of the seals and charters of former emperors and kings, to 
separate from the empire and submit to Austria; that God 
nad given to no king the right to commit injustice; that 
ihey had no hope but in God and their own courage, and 
that death was much more desirable than so shameful a 
yoke. They therefore resolved that each should talk with 
trustworthy and courageous men in his own district, to as- 
certain the disposition of the people, and what they would 
undertake for security and liberty. 

Subsequently, as they had agreed, they met frequently 
by night, at a secret place on the lake. It lay about mid- 
way between Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, in a small 
bushy meadow at the foot of the rocks of Seelisberg, oppo- 
site the little village of Brunnen. It is called Rutli, from 
the clearing of bushes ; there they were far from all human 
habitations. Soon each brought the joyful news that death 
was more desirable to all the people than so shameful a yoke. 

When, on the night of 17th of November, 1307, they 
came together, and each of the Three had brought with 
him to the meadow of the Rutli, ten true and honorable 
men, determined to hold the ancient liberty of their father- 
land before all, and life as nothing, the pious Three raised 
their hands to the starry heavens, and swore to God the 
Lord, before whom kings and peasants are equal, faithfully 
to live and to die for the rights of the innocent people; to 
undertake and carry through every thing in unison and 



>. - 



40 I'fiE oAfa. [mi 

not separately ; to permit no injustice, but also to commit 
no injustice; to respect the rights and property of the 
counts of Habsburg, and do no harm to the imperial 
bailiffs, but also to prevent the bailiffs from ruining the 
country. And the thirty others raised their hands and 
took the oath, like the Three, to God and all the saints, 
manfully to assert libertj^ ; and they appointed New Year's 
night for the work. Then they separated ; each returned 
to his valley and to his cabin, and tended his cattle. 

The bailiff, Hermann Gessler, was not easy, because he 
had an evil conscience. It seemed to him that the people 
began to raise their heads, and to show more boldness. 
Therefore he set the ducal hat of Austria upon a pole in 
Uri, and ordered that every one who passed before it should 
do it reverence. By this means he wished to discover who 
was opposed to Austria. 

And William Tell, the archer of Burglen, one of the 
men of Kutli, passed before it, but he did not bow. He 
was immediately carried to the bailiff, who angrily said, 
"Insolent archer, I will punish thee by means of thine 
own craft ; I will place an apple on the head of thy little 
son ; shoot it off and fail not !" And they bound the child, 
and placed an apple on his head, and led the archer far 
away. He took aim. The bowstring twanged. The ar- 
row pierced the apple. All the people shouted for joy. 
But Gessler said to the archer, " Why didst thou take a 
second arrow?" Tell answered, "If the first had not 
pierced the apple, the second would assuredly have pierced 
thy heart." 

This terrified the bailiff, and he ordered the archer to be 
seized and carried to a boat in which he was himself about 
to embark for Kussnacht. He did not think it prudent to 
imprison Tell in Uri, on account of the people ; but to drag 
him into foreign captivity was contrary to the privileges of 
the country. Therefore the bailiff feared an assembling 
of the people, and hastily departed, in spite of a strong 
head wind. The sea rose, and the waves dashed foaming 
over the boat, so that all were alarmed, and the boatmen 
disheartened. The further they went on the lake, the 
greater was the danger of death ; for the steep mountaina 



1808.J DEATH OF GESSLER. 41 

rose from tlie abyss of waters like walls to heaven. In 
great anxiety, Gessler ordered the fetters to be removed 
from Tell, that he, an experienced steersman, might take 
the helm. But Tell steered towards the bare flank of the 
Axenberg, where a naked rock projects, like a small shelf, 
into the lake. There was a shock, a spring. Tell was on 
the rock, the boat out upon the lake. 

The freed man climbed the mountain, and fled across the 
land of Schwyz; and he thought in his troubled heart, 
" Whither can I fly from the wrath of the tyrant? Even 
if I escape from his pursuit, he has my wife and child in 
my house as hostages. What may not Gessler do to my 
family, when Landenberg put out the eyes of the old man 
of Melchthal on account of a servant's broken fingers? 
AVhere is the judgment-seat before which I can cite Gess- 
ler, when the king himself no longer listens to the com- 
plaints of the people ? As law has no authority, and there 
is no one to judge between thee and me, thou and I, Gess- 
ler, are both without law, and self-preservation is our only 
judge. Either my innocent wife and child and fatherland 
must fall, or, bailiff Gessler, thou! Fall thou, therefore, 
and let liberty prevail !" 

So thought Tell, and, with bow and arrow, fled towards 
Kussnacht, and hid in the hollow way near the village. 
Thither came the bailiff; there the bowstring twanged; 
there the free arrow pierced the tyrant's heart. 

The whole people shouted for joy when they learnt tlie 
death of their oppressor. Tell's deed increased their cour- 
age ; but the night of the New Year had not yet come. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE NEW year's MORNING OF 1308. BATTLE FOR FREEDOM AT 
MOROARTEN. LUCERNE JOINS THE CONFEDERATES. 

[A. D. 1808 to 1834.] 

The night came. One of the young men who had taken 
the oath at Rutli, went to the castle of llossberg in Obwah 






4:2 EXPULSION OF LANDENBERG. [l3^8- 

den, where lived a young girl beloved by him. With a 
rope the young girl drew him up from the castle-ditch into 
her chamber. Bat twenty others were waiting below 
whom the first drew up also. When all had entered, 
they mastered the steward and his servants and the whole 
castle. 

When it was day, Landenberg left the royal castle near 
Sarnen to attend mass. Twenty men of Unterwalden met 
him, bearing, as customary presents, fowls, goats, lambs, and 
other New Year's gifts. The bailiff, in a friendly manner, 
told them to enter the castle. When under the gate, one of 
them sounded his horn. At once, all drew forth sharp spear- 
heads, fastened them upon their staves, and took the castle, 
while thirty others, who had been hidden in a neighboring 
thicket, came to their assistance. Landenberg. terrified, 
fled over the meadows towards Alpnach. But they took 
him, and made him and all his people swear to leave the 
Waldstatten forever. Then they permitted him to retire 
to Lucerne. No injur}^ was done to any one. 

High blazed the bonfires on the Alps. 

With the people of Schwyz, Stauffacher went to the 
lake of Lowerz, and seized the castle of Schwanau. The 

Eeople of Uri marched out, and Gressler's tower was taken 
y assault. 

High blazed the bonfires on the Alps. 

That was Freedom's New Year's day. On the following 
Sunday, deputies from the three districts assembled, and, 
with an oath, renewed their original bond for ten years; 
and the bond was to endure forever and to be often re-. 
newed. They had reassumed their ancient rights, had 
shed no drop of blood, and had done no harm to any, be- 
longing to the king or to Habsburg, in the land. 

When king Albert learnt what had taken place, he was 
exceedingly incensed, assembled troops, and, in com])2inj 
with many noble lords, rode into Aargau. With him was 
also his nephew and ward, duke John of Suabia, from 
whom he had withheld his patrimony. As, on the 1st of 
May, 1308, having left Baden, he was crossing the Eeuss 
near Windisch, duke John cried out, " This is the reward 
of injustice!" and pierced the monarch's throat with his 



-1884.] ASSASSINATION OF ALBERT. 43 

lance. Other lords, who had conspired with the duke, fol- 
lowed his example. Knight Kudolf of Balm plunged his 
sword into the king's bosom, Walter of Eschenbach clove 
his head. The rest remained motionless, in horror at the 
crime. Finally, they all dispersed. The emperor of Ger- 
many expired in the arms of a poor woman, who passed, 
by chance, along the road. 

This crime occasioned horror everywhere. The murderers 
wandered and died, cursed of men. Zurich closed her 
gates against them ; the Waldstatten would grant no asy- 
lum to the assassins of their enemy. But the children of 
the murdered man, duke Leopold of Austria, and Agnes, 
queen of Hungary, and his widow, queen Elizabeth, 
wreaked their vengeance on innocent and guilty. The 
most cruel of all was Agnes. Many castles of the sus- 
pected were reduced to ashes : Wart, Fahrwangen, Masch- 
wangen, Altburen. When, at Fahrwangen, the blood 
of sixty-three guiltless knights flowed at the feet of Agnes, 
she is said to have exclaimed: "See, now I am bathing in 
May-<lew!" In vain did the wife of knight Rudolf of 
Wart beg before her in the dust for the life of her hus- 
band. His limbs were broken, and, still living, he was 
exposed on the wheel* to the voracity of birds of prey. 
From the wheel, while dying, he consoled his faithful 
wife, who alone knelt near him, and prayed and wept 
till his dear soul had fled. But Agnes and her mother 
built the rich convent of Koenigsfelden on the spot of 
the emperor's assassination. She herself retired thither, 
to close her days in devotion. But brother Berthold 
Strebel, of Oftringen, filled with indignation, said to her, 
one day, as she was inviting passers-by to enter her 
church: "Woman! that is poor God's-service, which 
sheds innocent blood, and builds a convent with the 
.-poil !" 

Neither did duke Leopold forgive the Waldstatten for 

• A person suffering this punishment was first fastened, face upwards, 
upon a large wljeel raised horizontally on a shaft ; then his limbs were 
l.roken by repeated blows with an iron bar, arwl he was loft to die, unless, 
ill mere}', ^ pnal blow upon the chest terminated hia toriuentg and his lif« 
together. 



44 REDING OF BIBEUEGG. [1808- 

their resistance to his father, especially when he saw that 
the J preferred the emperor, Louis of Bavaria, to his 
brother, Frederick of Austria. He marched against them 
with many knights and signiors, and a large force. Count 
Otto of Strassburg crossed the Brunig against Obwalden, 
with four thousand men. More than a thousand soldiers 
were sent by the governors of Willisau, Wollhausen and 
Lucerne, to attack the country of Unterwalden from the 
lake. The duke himself advanced with the best of his 
troops from Aegeri, by Morgarten, against the mountains 
of the Schwyzers. He carried with him numerous ropes 
to hang the leaders of the people. 

The Confederates, to oppose his power, stationed them- 
selves, thirteen hundred strong, on the height near the 
march of Einsiedeln. Four hundred of Uri, three hun- 
dred of Unterwalden, had joined the Schwyzers. Also, 
fifty men to Schwyz, who had been banished, came and 
begged permission to show themselves worthy of restora- 
tion to their country by deeds of valor. As, on the 16th 
of November, 1315, the many thousand harnessed knights, 
in the rosy dawn of morning, were ascending the mountain, 
the Confederates, with loud cries, rushed upon them at a 
small plain near the Hasellmat, and on the broad grassy 
slope of the mountain. The fifty banished men rolled 
down huge masses of rock from the heights of the Siegler- 
Flue, then broke forth from the morning-mist upon the 
disarrayed enemy. There was great disorder among the 
troops of the duke, then flight and rout. Leading the 
Schwyzers with word and deed were Henry of Ospenthal 
and the sons of old Reding of Biberegg, who had given 
the plan of the battle. The enemy were driven into the 
defile below at Aegeri. The flower of the nobilit}^ fell at 
Morgarten under the halberds and maces* of the shepherds. 
Leopold saved himself with difficulty from the victorious 
pursuers. Then, on the following day, the victors hastened 
across the lake of the Waldstatten towards Unterwalden ; 
there they defeated the Lucerners, many of whom were 
(drowned in the lake. Strassburg saw this, and fled terri- 

* Called Morgensterneii : morning stars; clubs armed with iron points, 



-1834.] CO>*Si'IBACV OF mK NOBLES. 45 

fied. After this great heroic day, the Confederates re- 
newed their ancient bond, to die, all for each, each for all; 
to enter into no engagement with foreign powers except 
with consent of all ; to respect foreign property and rights 
in the country, as their own. Thus the name of Schwyzers 
(Swiss) became world- renowned, and afterwards was the 
name of all the Confederates. The aid of their formidable 
arms was soon demanded in the wars of the empire. Their 
intercession saved the liberties of Zurich and St. Gallen, 
when the emperor, in want of money, wished to pledge 
these imperial cities to the dukes of Austria. But Schaff- 
hausen, Eheinfelden and Neuchatel fell into the power of 
Austria, as mortgaged property. This greatly grieved 
those cities. Lucerne learnt by sad experience the heavy 
pressure of a prince's yoke. Dependent upon Austria, the 
burghers of Lucerne, to their great detriment, had been 
compelled to fight against the Waldstatten and in all foreign 
wars, for many long years. Besides this, the dukes, making 
use of their princely power, had increased the taxes. At 
last, the citizens could bear no more. Thereupon, they 
concluded a truce of twenty years with the Waldstatten ; 
but, seeing that the nobles and principal families, devoted 
to the service of the dukes, meditated projects injurious to 
the city, on this account, they united in a perpetual bond 
with the Confederates, that they would stand by them, 
each for all, all for each, but without detriment to ancient 
rights. 

Thereat the nobility dwelling in Aargau declared war 
against the city in the name of Austria. The burghers 
valiantly defended their good right. The Waldstatten 
fought with them against the nobles. But the principal 
families in Lucerne itself sided with the foreign nobles. 
For caste does not forsake its caste. The nobles of Lucerne 
conspired to make a nocturnal massacre, and to give up the 
city to the duke, after the friends of the Waldstatten had 
been murdered in their beds. They were already assem- 
bled in arms, in the darkness of the night, in a cellar neai- 
the lake, under the tailors' hall, when a boy chanced to 
overhear their projects. They seized and would have 
killed him. However, his life was spared, utid he was 



46 ttrcEiii^E SAVJit). [iss5- 

forced to take an oath to tell to no man wliat he had heard. 
But he went into the hall of the butchers, where some 
burghers were still drinking and playing, and there, in a 
loud voice, related to the dumb stove that which he had 
sworn to tell to no man. All the burghers listened won- 
dering, hastened away and roused the city. They made 
the conspirators prisoners, called in auxiliaries from Unter- 
walden, and took the government of the city forever from 
those principal families which had until then been invested 
with it. The chief persons were exiled. Three hundred 
burghers thenceforth formed the council; but the city- 
property, the taxes, war and alliances were controlled by 
the commune. Thus the prudence and patriotism of a 
child saved the liberties of Lucerne. 

Afterwards, the dukes, burdened or exhausted with 
other wars, willingly made peace with Lucerne, as soon as 
nine arbitrators of Bale, Berne and Zurich had declared : 
that the perpetual bond of the four Waldstatten was 
blameless, and in no wise injurious to the rights of Habs- 
burg- Austria. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BERNE VANQUISHES THE POWER OF THE NOBILITY NEAR LAUPEN ; 
AND KNIGHT BRUN CHANGES THE CONSTITUTION OF ZURICH. 

[A. D. 1335 to 1340.] 

At this period the city of Berne also was compelled to 
engage in a war for life or death against the nobles of 
Uechtland and their allies. The counts and signiors of 
the neighborhood were displeased to see Berne flourishing 
by her arms, her industry and her agriculture, powerful 
by the public spirit of her citizens, strengthened bj the 
purchase of Hasli and Laupen, and respected more and 
more throughout the country. And when the city refused 
to receive the money struck by count Eberhard of Kyburg 
with imperial sanction, and to recognize the emperor Louis 
of Bavaria, because the pope had excommunicated him, 



-1840.] JOHN OF BUBENBERG. 47 

the nobles joyfully seized this pretext to punish the recu 
sants. Thereupon count Kudolf of the French house of 
Neuchatel, who had given city rights and walls to his vil- 
lages Erlach and Nidau, convoked all the enemies of Berne 
at his tower in Nidau. And they determined that the 
city must be destroyed from the earth. They collected 
many troops in Aargau, Savoy, Upper Burgundy, Uecht- 
land and Alsace. There came 700 lords with coronetted 
helms, 1200 harnessed knights, with more than 15,000 men 
on foot and 3000 on horseback. 

The Bernese were not terrified at the tidings of these 
great preparations, neither did they insult their enemies 
by too confident a security ; they resolved to satisfy all 
just claims, but to repel force by force. When all peace- 
ful negotiations proved fruitless, they prepared their arms. 

With uplifted hand, the ancient avoyer, John of Buben- 
berg, swore to sacrifice property and life in defence of the 
city of Laupen, under the walls of which the enemy's 
forces were assembled. And he went to reinforce the gar- 
rison with 600 trusty men. While the Bernese were de- 
liberating in their council-hall upon the choice of a general 
to whom the command of their soldiers should be confided 
in this war, there rode into the city knight Rudolf of Er- 
lach, son of that Ulrich of Erlach who had defeated the 
nobility on the Donnerbuhl, forty-one years before. They 
at once chose him for their general, for he was an expe- 
rienced soldier, and had helped to gain six great battles in 
foreign lands. At the call of Berne, 900 valiant men, 
from Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, crossed the Brunig 
to her assistance ; 600 came also from Ilasli and Sieben- 
thal (Simmenthal). Solothurn, also, sent 80 cnirassed 
horsemen, gratefully remembering the day on which Berne < 
had succored her, when besieged by duke Leopold of Aus- 
tria with a numerous army. (But, on that occasion, 
Leopold was vanquished less by arms than by the furious 
inundation of the Aar and the magnanimity of the Solo- 
thurners. The swollen waters of the Aar had carried 
away the duke's bridge of boats, and the generous burgh- 
ers of the city saved from death their enemies perishing 
in the flood.) 



48 nUDOLF OF ERLACH. [l335 

With these auxiliaries, and with 4000 citizens and in 
habitants of Berne, Eudolf of Erlach took post in front of 
the enemy not far from Laupen. upon a height whence hn 
30uh.l overlook the army of the nobles. The battle becjan 
nnmediatelj. The enemy's squadrons ascended the heiglit. 
Erlach gave the signal. The slingers commenced. The 
iron war-wagons thundered down the hill, and broke the 
ranks of the enemy's array. Then followed the banners, 
the halberds and the maces. The hindmost of the Ber- 
nese alone quailed in terror at the sight. Then cried the 
quick-witted hero Erlach: ''Good! The chaff is sepa- 
rated from the wheat ! Cowards will not share the vic- 
tory of the brave !" 

And the victory was theirs. Count Eudolf of Nidau 
lay under the foremost of the slain ; about him 1500 of his 
part}^ This was in the year 1839. Nevertheless, the 
war lasted four years, with skirmishes here and there. 
Many places were plundered and burnt. Freiburg in 
Uechtland suffered greatly, for she was compelled to side 
with the nobles against Berne. At last, peace came ; es- 
pecially glorious for Berne, though she acquired no foot 
of land as compensation or by conquest ; but the city 
which was threatened with destruction from the face of the 
earth, had become so victorious that she threatened the 
destruction of all her enemies. Forces ten times superior 
in numbers had been vanquished by her citizens, all ani- 
mated by one mind, by one heart, by love for their coun- 
try, by no thought of self Thus men work miracles. 

After peace was concluded, the Bernese hung up their 
arras, and resumed their occupations. The knightly hero, 
Rudolf of Erlach, quietly cultivated his paternal field, 
asked for no pay, honors or title, and lived happily to an 
advanced old age. But one day, Jobst of Rudenz, from 
Unterwalden, his son-in-law, entered his chamber, and they 
disputed with each other on the subject of dowry. Jobst 
saw the sword of the victor at Laupen hanging against the 
wall. In sudden anger he seized it and plunged it into 
the heart of the old hero. Then he fled, pursued by his 
father-in-law's hounds, and was never seen more. 

The avojer, John of Bubenberg, who had renclered 



x840.] THE KONSTAFFLERS. 49 

great services to his city in the most diflicult times, expe- 
rieDced a still sadder fate. His haughty manners made 
him odious to the citizens. He was therefore accused of 
goverumg with immoderate pride, not like a citizen, but 
like a prince, and of undertaking no business without a 
present. He was banished from the city with all his 
friends, for one hundred years and a day. Then, after 
fourteen years, when he was old and weak, the people 
took pity on him and received him back. In a free com- 
monwealth, the virtue of a citizen may often obliterate 
the remembrance of past faults, but former services can 
never excuse subsequent misdeeds. 

About the same time, still more deplorable was the lot 
of the council-lords of Zurich, where four nobles of the 
city and eight of the most eminent burghers always held 
the government for four months, and then chose their suc- 
cessors. Thus the power was in the hands of a few knight- 
Iv and military families, who were called Konstafilers. 
The other citizens, and the mechanics distinguished by 
their riches, acquirements and courage, were displeased at 
being subject to these families, against whose government, 
moreover, many complaints were made. The lords, it was 
said, cared only for their own and families' interests, gave 
no account of the city moneys, treated the simple citizens 
quite haughtily, and knew no law but their own caprice. 
These complaints continued until one of the council itself 
joined the dissatisfied people, and made common cause with 
them. This was knight Kudolf Brun, a man of talent, but 
ambitious. Instigated by him, the burghers at last sum- 
moned the council to give an account of the city moneys. 
Rudolf Brun, his friend Rudiger Mancsse and some others 
of the council supported the demand as just. The rest of 
the councillors thought that this was only a momentary 
effervescence of the burghers, which would soon die away, 
and they made use of small manceuvres to procrastinate 
the matter. They understood the council-chamber, but 
not the temper of the people. 

After six weeks, Brun caused a report to be spread, that 
the lords of the council were only trifling with the com- 
mons. Then the people flocked to the lower bridge, near 
3 £ 



60 i^Ai^now potter, 

the council-hall, where the council was in session. As the 
crowd and clamor increased, those in the house became 
terrified. Some declared in favor of the citizens ; the 
others, anxious for their personal safety, made their escape 
and hastily left the city. Full powers were given to knight 
Brun, and it was decided that the lords should suffer in 
honor, person and property. They were banished with 
their partisans. 

Then knight Brun^ with the advice of his friends, drew 
up a new constitution, divided all the artisans into thirteen 
corporations, the chiefs of which had seats in the council ; 
the Konstafflers he classed as a single body, that they 
might have no great influence in the other corporations. 
The council, composed half of citizens, half of nobles and 
patricians, was to be renewed every six months. Brun 
caused himself to be appointed burgomaster for life, and 
retained great power. The people gladly swore to this 
constitution in 1336. As the artisans had a voice in the 
council, they were enabled to prohibit the competition of 
foreign mechanics, the exportation of raw materials, the 
importation of manufactured articles, as if the whole city 
existed for the benefit of their trades, not their trades for 
the benefit of the city. 

But the banished lords of the council, and their friends 
without, meditated a bloody vengeance against Zurich. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ORIGIN OF THE PERPETUAL BOND OF THE EIGHT ANCIENT CANTONS 

OF THE CONFEDERACY. 

[A. D. 1841 to I860.] 

The exiles had retired to Rapperswyl and into the cas- 
tles and towers of their friends; thence they made small 
war against the Zurichers, and harassed them by every 
means in their power. But the Zurichers were courageous 
men, and Brun brave as well as talented. When the ex 



-1341.] RAPPERSWYL DESTRorED. 61 

lies found that they did not accomplish any thing, the}^ 
conspired to make a nocturnal massacre in Zurich. Sev- 
eral counts and nobles entered the city, either openly 
under various pretexts, or secretly. It was agreed thjit 
when they had got possession of the city in the horrors of 
a dark night, the gates were to be opened, and numerous 
troops from liapperswyl admitted. The night came. The 
conspirators assembled in a friend's house. There a baker's 
apprentice, half asleep behind the stove, overheard their 
plot. He immediately revealed it to his master ; his mas- 
ter to knight Brun. The latter, in armor, hastened, bare- 
footed, to the council-hall. The alarm bell was rung. All 
the citizens rushed at once to arms. The conspirators tried 
to escape, but the women threw stones, earthen pots and 
tiles upon them from the windows, and Brun, at the head 
of the citizens, met them in the market place. A long 
and bloody conflict ensued. The conspirators were van- 
quished. Those who could escape fled. Many were slain, 
others taken prisoners. 

Brun thought only of vengeance. The bodies of the 
dead lay three whole days unburied on the market-place, 
until they were so disfigured by the horses and carts that 
passed over them, that they could no longer be recognized. 
Thirty-seven citizens, engaged in the conspiracy, among 
them ancient magistrates of the city, were beheaded or 
broken on the wheel in the streets in front of their houses. 
Then Brun led his troops against Kapperswyl. The fur- 
tress was taken and demolished, the inhabitants driven into 
the open fields, the walls thrown down, every thing, even 
to the last hut, burnt. Thus Brun's vengeance struck 
down the innocent with the guilty. This was in 1350. 

In the following year, when duke Albert of Austria 
threatened a severe reprisal, the burgomaster applied to the 
Confederates in the Waldstatten for assistance, and to be 
allowed to join in their perpetual bond. Uri, Schwyz, 
Unterwalden and Lucerne, who had long esteemed Zurich 
as their rampart and their market, willingly assented, on 
the 1st of May, 1351, and swore with her to a perpetual 
bond, to assist each other with life and property against 
all enemies, and in case of difference among themselves, to 



62 RtJDIGER MANESSEJ. [l340- 

settle the dispute in a friendly manner by arbitrators. All 
the rights of the king and of the holy Eoman empire, and 
all ancient treaties were maintained, but in new treaties 
with foreigners the Confederacy was to be preferred.* 

Now, duke Albert, giving vent to his anger against 
Zurich, came and demanded satisfaction for the destruction 
of Eapperswyl, which had belonged to his relatives, and 
for the injuries suffered by the servants and subjects of 
Austria. He advanced at the head of 16,000 men, and re- 
quired Glarus also to send auxiliaries. But the people of 
Glarus refused and said, " It is indeed our duty, under the 
protection of the empire, to take arms for the defence of 
the abbey of Seckingen, to which our country belongs, but 
we have nothing to do with any other wars of Austria." 
This answer irritated the duke. He resolved to send 
troops into Glarus, because he was patron and protector 
of the abbey of Seckingen, and because, from Glarus, he 
thought to intimidate the people of Uri and Schwyz, so 
that they might not assist those of Zurich. But the Con- 
federates suddenly issued from the Waldstatten in the 
depth of winter, and occupied Glaras for their own secu- 
rity. The people of Glarus swore to hold with the Swiss, 
sent two hundred men of their valley to reinforce the city 
of Zurich, beat Walter of Stadion when he entered their 
country with an Austrian force from Eapperswyl, and de- 
stroyed the castle of Nafels. 

This valor pleased the Confederates, and they received 
Glarus into their perpetual bond, reserving the just sover- 
eignty and revenues of the duke and of the princess-abbess 
of Seckingen, on condition that these acknowledged the 
ancient franchises of Glarus. This took place in 1352, 
while in the year before (26th December, 1351) Rudiger 
Manesse, of Zurich, with less than 1500 men, had van- 
quished more than 4000 Austrians near Tatwyl, and (16th 
December, 1351) forty-two Schwyzers kept at bay more 
than a thousand Austrians near Kussnacht, on the lake of 

* Zurich received the title of Vorort, or chief canton of the Confede- 
racy, and was the seat of the federal authority, if any existed that could 
ne so called. She enjoyed this distinction on account of her superior 
virealth and importance, but had no political supremacy. 



-I860.] THE duke's INDIFFERENCE. 63 

the Waldstatten, and avenged the burning of Kussnacht 
by the destruction of Habsburg on the Ro then flue, near 
the same lake. 

The duke of Austria had as yet achieved no single ex- 
ploit, while the renown of the Confederates and of their 
rapid victories flew afresh from valley to valley, from land 
to land. And they were greatly praised, because they did 
not war like princes, but as freemen, and did not plunder 
the conquered countries, or make the vanquished inhabit- 
ants tributary serfs and subjects, but received them as 
faithful and free confederates. 

Therefore, the country-people on the lake of Zug, and 
in the rich fields and mountains of the neighborhood, pre- 
ferred them to all others, and gave them advice, assistance, 
and important information on many occasions. The city 
of Zug, on the contrary, remained faithful to her lords of 
Austria, closed her gates, and garrisoned her strong walls 
against the Confederates. Many a noble family here en- 
joyed the right of citizenship. The ancient counts of 
Lenzburg are said to have first fortified the village on the 
lake. 

But when the Confederates, to the number of about 3000 
men, appeared Vjefore the walls and gates of Zug, and were 
joined by all the people of the neighboring country, the 
burghers of the city were frightened, as they had only a 
weak garrison of Austrians. They therefore sent in haste 
to duke Albert, to ask help from him in their need. 

The messenger found the duke near Koenigsfelden ; but 
this prince hardly paid attention to his complaints, talking 
with his falconer about the pleasures of the chase, while the 
messenger wept. To bring down a bird from the high 
clouds seemed of more consequence to this lord than to 
save a city. Full of indignation at such indifference, the 
burghers of Zug opened the gates of their city to the Con- 
federates, and joined in their perpetual bond, reserving all 
the rights and revenues of the house of Austria. 

The duke had said to the messenger from Zug: "I will 
soon recover every thing." lie trusted in his powerful 
allies. With him came all the nobility of Aargau, Thur- 
gau and Uechtland, troops from the allied cities of Schaff- 

r* 



54 THE ELECTOR OF BRANDENBURG-. [l340- 

hausen, Bale, Strassburg and even Berne. The elector of 
Brandenburg also brought soldiers from Gerraanj. He 
immediately besieged the citj of Zurich with more than 
34,000 men. It was valiantly defended by the Confederates. 

The elector of Brandenburg soon perceived that no 
glory was to be won against people so steadfast, so united, 
so intrepid as the Swiss, and, moreover, supplies and pro- 
visions began to fail, and famine to threaten, in the duke's 
crowded encampment. He therefore offered his friendly 
mediation to the duke, and sent two confidential messen- 
gers to the Swiss. The latter had hardly given an an- 
swer, when, on the next morning, they saw the enemy 
depart from before their walls ; the Bernese alone remained, 
more attached to the Confederates than to the duke. 

At Lucerne, the elector negotiated the peace, in which, 
as always, all ancient rights and treaties were maintained. 
But the Confederates here received Berne also into their 
perpetual bond. This was in 1353. 

After this peace the duke of Austria tried to persuade 
the people of Zug to withdraw from the Swiss bond. They 
answered : " The Swiss bond is recognized in the treaty of 
peace ; we owe obedience to the duke, only in those thmgs 
which concern his rights." The duke complained to the 
emperor, and the emperor condemned the perpetual bond 
of the Confederates, saying: '' Members of the empire can 
form no compact among themselves without consent of the 
chief of the empire." And he himself came into the 
country and before Zurich, with a large force. But when 
he saw the strength, the union and the loyalty of the Con- 
federates, and that the duke had in view only the aggran- 
disement of Austria, he changed his purpose, and left the 
Swiss as they were ; and peace was made and the perpet- 
ual bond remained unbroken. 

Two years after this peace (in 1360) burgomaster Eudolf 
Brun died, hated for his ambition and despotism. He was 
a man who cared only for himself A year before his 
death, he had secretly sworn to the dukes of Austria, to 
serve them and their officers, but not against the Confede- 
rates. And for this they were to pay him one thousand 
guilders^ and an annuity of one hundred guilders. 



1860.J CO^'FEDERATE STRENGTH. 55 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOW THE SWISS INCREASE, AND THE GUGLERS AND THE COUNTS 
OF KYBURG ARE RUINED. 

[A. D. 1360 to 1385.] 

What made the Confederates strong and steadfast? 
That they valued liberty more than ease and gold, and 
more than fleeting life ; that they readily took arms to de- 
fend their rights, never to destroy the rights of others ; that 
they held together as brothers in danger and in death, and 
no selfishness divided them. This made the Confederates 
strong and steadfast. Their perpetual bond was engraved 
on all their hearts more plainly than it was written on the 
parchment. 

Having now made peace with Austria, they put their 
internal affairs in order, labored diligently at their trades, 
economised in their households, and amassed gold, not 
that they might live luxuriously and splendidly, but that 
they might purchase for their commonwealths the rights 
and revenues which the impoverished nobility were always 
ready to sell. Thus they increased their strength and free- 
dom by just means. And justice is the foundation of all 
noble freedom. 

The shepherd-commune of Gersau on the lake of Lu- 
cerne, reserving their prerogatives, united with the four 
Waldstatten in the j)erpctual bond. Hergiswyl and Alp- 
nach purchased themselves free from the sovereignty of 
their signiors, and joined Unterwalden. Lucerne bought 
from the barons of Kamstcin tlieir rights over Wcggis on 
the lake ; Zurich, many imperial liefs, by contributions 
from her citizens. Berne, like Zurich, obtained franchises 
and privileges from the favor of the emperor, and, with 
ready money, the signiory of Aarburg and several villages. 
Other cities also, not of the Confederacy, increased their 
ancient territory under their ecclesiastical or secular signi- 
ors ; such were SchaffhauseYi, Bale, Lausanne, St. Gallen, 
Bienne and Solothurn, But the power of the bishops and 



56 INGELRAK OF COUCY. [1360- 

counts was weakened by continual discord, their treasuries 
exhausted by endless wars. This, more than force or vio- 
lence, helped all the people to gain privileges and strength. 
The Appenzellers, also, obeyed their own laws rather than 
the commands of the abbot of St. Gallen. So the valleys 
of the country above the lake of Thun lived in hereditary 
freedom under the mild sovereignty of their counts, whose 
power was no longer unlimited. Saanenland bought her- 
self entirely free from the counts of Gruyeres. Oberhasli 
and Brienz wished to free themselves by force from the 
dominion of the bailiff at Einkenberg. But the Confede- 
rates would not help them. They said; "No freedom 
without justice." 

On the other hand, when a member or ally of the Con- 
federacy was threatened with danger or war, the Confede- 
rates flew promptly to her assistance, as when Arnold of 
Cervola, with undisciplined hordes from England, ravaged 
France and threatened Bale. But when Ingelram of Coucy, 
count of Soissons, made war against Austria, and the dukes, 
fearing for their possessions in Aargau, which had been 
assigned to Ingelram as his wife's dowry, called upon the 
Waldstatten and Lucerne for assistance, the people cher- 
ished, in their breasts too strong an anger against Austria. 
But Zurich, on the contrary, and Berne, who feared for 
their own frontiers in consequence of the proximity of Aar- 
gau, promptly seized their arms. Ingelram did in fact en- 
ter Aargau with several thousand men. This frightened 
the country not a little, even Lucerne and Unterwalden. 
The most courageous of the Austrian subjects prepared for 
resistance without delay ; the most ardent were the men 
of Entlibuch (a populous valley in the present canton of 
Lucerne). They assembled in arms; the young men of 
Lucerne and Unterwalden, desirous of conflict, joined 
them. Three thousand English were posted at Buttisholz ; 
with them were many noble lords and knights. The Ent- 
libuchers saw them. They and their companions, only 600 
strong, at once attacked the enemy and routed them after a 
very bloody fight. The Entlibuchers rode home in tri- 
umph on the horses they had taken, in the armor of tho 
knights tbey had vanquished. This sight saddened the 



-1385.] JOHN ROTT. 57 

old noble lords in the country, and one of them, Peter of 
Dorrenberg, said with a sigh: "0 noble lord of noble 
blood, must a peasant wear thine armor?" But the Ent- 
libucher replied: "Why, my gentleman, we have taken 
arms, and mingled blood of noble and blood of horse to- 
gether." The people of Berne, Laupen and Aarberg also 
achieved heroic deeds near Ins and the convent of Frau- 
brunnen, against the hordes of Guglers, as Ingelram of 
Coucy's men were called, in consequence of their pointed 
helmets. Here his strength was broken. Therefore this 
lord sadly returned home into Alsace, over the Hauen- 
stein. 

Six years after this (1382), the free imperial-city of Solo- 
thurn was in great danger. Not far from the city lived 
count Rudolf of Kyburg, in the mountain-castle of Bipp, 
which he had received on pledge from the counts of 
Thierstein. He was grieved that so much property had 
been alienated from his very ancient and formerly wealthy 
family, in consequence of the poor economy of his father. 
Thun, the city of his ancestors, had fallen to Berne on 
mortgage ; so had Aarberg. He had some claim on Solo- 
thurn, in virtue of certain rights. He thought he could 
recover the whole by a Vjold stroke. He secretly enlisted 
auxiliaries on the right and left. He intended to surprise 
and take Solothurn in the darkness of the night. The 
})rior of the church of St. Ursus, in that city, was his 
uncle. A canon of the cathedral, John Amstcin, who 
lived on the city- wall, was to admit the soldiers through 
his house, and to muffle the alarm-bell with cloths. Every 
thing was ready. The night came, and the enemy were 
already advancing towards the city in the darkness. 

But John Kott, a peasant of Kamisbcrg, ran ahead of 
them in the midnight liour, and informed the watchmen at 
the east gate of the count's murderous projects. They 
tried to ring the alarm-bell, but in vain. Cries of terror 
resounded through the streets. All seized their arms ; all 
hastened to the walls. When Kudolf of Kyburg saw this 
unexpected vigilance, he retired with shame. John Am- 
Btein, the traitorous canon, was punished by quartering; to 
recompense John liott, on the contrary, it was decreed, that 
o 



58 REFORMS IN [1360- 

Solothurn should, every year thenceforward, give to the 
eldest of his descendants, a new coat in the colors of the 
city, red and white. 

From this day, the affairs of lord Eudolf of Kyburg 
went from bad to worse ; Solothurn and Berne, to avenge 
tliemselves, ravaged his property and that of his friends. 
The want of money deprived him of all assistance. He 
took this much to heart and died. His brothers, however, 
fought valiantly for their heritage. Many noble lords em- 
braced their cause. Then Berne called on the Confeder- 
ates. Great misfortunes befell Kyburg, and the counts 
made a disadvantageous peace; abandoned in perpetuity 
Thun and their office of bailiff over woody Grussisberg, 
and sold to the Bernese Burgdorf, already besieged by 
their troops. Berne paid the Confederates for their assist- 
ance, and Solothurn for the expenses of the war, in 
money. 

Thus the bloody enterprise of the Ky burgs against 
Solothurn terminated in their own ruin, and Berne derived 
the greatest advantages from her valor and prudence ; and 
Berne did this at a time when within her own walls dwelt 
an enemy much more dangerous to liberty than all the 
power of Kyburg. 

Either by the abuse or mal-interpretation of the laws, or 
by the indifference of the citizens, a small number of fami- 
lies in Berne had by degrees acquired supremacy in the 
council, and assumed the whole government and the man- 
agement of public affairs. These families treated the com- 
mon citizens haughtily, disregarded the laws, and divided 
the best offices among their own members. Nevertlieless, 
the spirit of freedom was still rife among the citizens in 
their corporations and trades. When they met on Shrove 
Tuesday, 1384, to elect the magistrates of the city and the 
common council, according to ancient usage, they deposed 
all the obnoxious councillors, with one exception, and took 
a personal oath, for themselves and their posterity, that, in 
future, magistrates and citizens should live together like 
brothers; that the important officers should be changed 
annually, as well as the majority of the council ; that the 
bannerets and their assessors should yearly select two huii- 



-1385.] BERNE-CITY. 59 

dred honorable men from among the artisans of the city 
for a great common council, in which no two brothers 
should sit at the same time, and that the council elect 
should first appear before the general assembly to be con- 
firmed by it, and should then swear, in its presence, to ob- 
serve all the laws and ordinances contained in the records. 
Thus did they and swore they, at Berne ; but, with time, 
much was forgotten ; the commons by degrees neglected 
the annual renewal, and did not even remember the names 
M those who belonged to the Two hundred. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

THE BATTLE FOR FREEDOM NEAR SEMPACH. 
[A. D. 1885 to 13S7.] 

I WILL now tell of the very bloody battles for freedom 
which were fought against Austria and the knights in the 
fields of Sempach and Nafels. 

The nobility, as always, implacably hated the freedom 
of the people. They oppressed the subject-peasants, and 
treated the Confederates with haughtiness. They thought 
themselves all-powerful, because they were upheld by the 
duke of Austria, who showed his hostility to the Confed- 
erates by establishing new tolls in his hereditary estates to 
impede their commerce. As, one day, a troop of bold 
Lucerners, full of wrath, went to the castle of Kothen- 
burg, where a new toll had been established, and razed its 
walls to the ground ; and as, on the same day, the much- 
harassed Entlibuchers, whose taxes their lord, Peter of 
Thorberg, had increased, requested the Lucerners to enter 
into a brotherly league with them for the defence of their 
rights, and Lucerne acceded to their request, the war against 
the signiors began. 

Peter of Thorberg ignominiously executed those men of 
Entlibuch who first proposed the alliance with Lucernr, 
and ravaged the country to the city-gates. And duke 



60 LEOPOLD OF AtJSTRIA. [l385- 

Leopold of Austria came and swore to take vengeance on 
the insolent Confederates, for all the damage they had 
already done to him and his house. Then arose cries of 
war and the noise of a general arming. The Confederates 
hastily assembled a Diet, Berne alone held back, because 
her truce with duke Leopold had not yet expired. In the 
mean while, one hundred and sixty -seven ecclesiastical and 
secular signiors declared war against the Confederates in 
the space of a few days, swearing their destruction and 
total ruin. 

The latter, unterrified, at once seized their arms. Many 
castles were destroyed by them in a short time. Eumlang 
on the Glatt, Morsburg, Schenken on the mountain near 
Sursee, Windegg in Gasterland. The enemy, on their 
side, not inactive, and assisted by the treachery of the 
burghers of Mayenberg, killed many of the men from Zug 
and Lucerne who garrisoned that city ; the place itself was 
reduced to ashes. Eeichensee, faithful to the Confederates, 
paid for its fidelit}^ by the burning of its houses and the 
massacre of most of its inhabitants ; the unconscious infant 
at its mother's breast was not spared. 

Thereafter, duke Leopold, with a formidable army and 
many noble knights and auxiliaries from his domains, 
marched from Baden, through Aargau, by Sursee, against 
Sempach, to chastise the citizens with a rod of iron for 
their attachment to the Confederates. Then he intended 
to attack Lucerne. But when he came to Sempach he 
found the banners of the Confederates already assembled 
on the heights. At once, without waiting for his infantry, 
he caused his thousands of cuirassed knights to dismount, 
because he feared lest the horses might create confusion in 
a hill-fight, ordered them to close up, man to man, like a 
wall of iron, and advance, with levelled lances, on the 
Confederates. Thereat the nobility shouted. Brave Hans 
of Hasenburg, however, spake warningly, ''Arrogance 
does no good!" But duke Leopold said, "Here, on my 
own land, for my people, I will conquer or die !" 

It was in harvest-time. The sun was high and hot. The 
Swiss fell on their knees and prayed. Then they rose : 
four hundred of Lucerne, nine hundred from the Wald 



1887.] ARNOLD OF WINKELRIED. 61 

statten, one hundred from Glarus, Zug, Gersau, Entlibuch 
and Kothenburg. All rushed furiously against the iron 
multitude. In vain ; it was unshakeable. Man fell on man. 
Sixtj Confederates bled upon the ground. All wavered. 

" I will open a path for freedom !" suddenly cries a voice 
of thunder ; " faithful and dear Confederates, take care 
of my wife and child." Thus spake Arnold Struthahn of 
Winkelried, the knightly Unterwaldener, and immediately 
clasping with both arms as many of the enemy's lances as 
he could, he buried them in his bosom, and fell. And 
over his dead body, the Confederates rushed furiously 
through the breach thus made in the iron wall, crashing 
as they went. Casque and cuirass cracked under the 
blows of the maces. Many hundreds of splendid banners 
became blood-red. Thrice the chief banner of Austria 
sank from dying hands, thrice it was raised again over the 
press, bathed in blood. Many a lord and count lay slain. 
The duke himself died despairing. He fell ; a Schwyzer 
slew the prince's son. Thereat dismay spread through the 
ranks of knights. They fled, shouting for their horses. 
But the servants, in affright, had already ridden away with 
them. With difficulty, in their heavy iron armor, heated 
by the rays of the sun, fled the unfortunate knights ; close 
behind them nimbly followed the vigorous Confederates. 
Many hundred counts, barons and knights from Suabia, 
Etschland and Aargau, fell with thousands of their foot- 
followers. Schaff hausen lost her banner, vainly defended, 
to the last drop of blood, by thirty-four nobles and burgh- 
ers of the city. The banneret of Lenzburg, Werner of 
Lo, fell under seven, the avoyer of Aarau under fourteen, 
of his fellow-citizens, and Nicholas Thuet, avoyer of Zof- 
ingen, under twelve of his. The latter, seeing his death 
near, destroyed his city's banner, that no enemy might 
boast of having captured it. Even in death, he held the 
staff of the banner fast between his teeth. The citizens of 
Mellin^on and Brcmf^arten fou^^ht with as much braverv 
as the Confederates, but with less good-fortune. Such 
was the issue of the battle of Sempach, on the 9th of July, 
1386; such the ever glorious result of the heroism and 
martyrdom of Arnold of Winkelried, 

f 



62 HATKED AGAINST AUSTRIA. [1388- 

Now Berne, also, joined her ancient Confederates and 
brothers-in-arms against Austria and her partisans in the 
mountains. She destroyed many a noble's strong tower ; 
took the Obersibenthal (a valley rich in pasturage in the 
south part of the present canton of Berne) under her pro- 
tection, and vanquished Freiburg in the field of Bumplitz. 
The banners of Zurich and Lucerne floated victorious over 
the domains of Habsburg, in valley and plain. The Aus- 
trian city of Wesen in Graster was obliged to yield to Gla- 
rus, Zurich and the Waldstatten, who pressed around its 
walls with fire and sword, by land and water. 

Austria, reduced to extremity, negotiated. A truce 
was concluded for eighteen months; a truce to arms, but 
not to hatred. Such was the animosity against Austria 
and the nobility, both mortal enemies of the liberty of the 
Confederates, that no man dared to wear, upon hat or 
casque, the peacock's feather which was the usual symbol 
of the Austrian dukes ; no peacock was allowed in all 
Switzerland ; and, one day, at an inn, a man broke his 
glass, in fury, because the rays of the sun, refracted through 
it, reproduced the brilliant colors of that bird 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE BATTLE FOR FREEDOM NEAR NAFELS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

[A. D. 1388 to 1402.] 

But the nobility and Austria still had faithful partisans 
in many places. 

Although Glarus governed with great mildness the lit- 
tle city of Wesen which she had conquered, its inhabitants 
did not forget their ancient grudge against their neighbors, 
and their pride sufiered more under the sovereignty of 
their equals than under that of a mighty prince. They 
conspired to avenge the house of Austria on the Swiss. 
For this purpose they secretly came to an understanding 
with the neighboring counts and lords; introduced into the 



1402.] TREACHKUY OF WESEN. 63 

city Austrian soldiers in disguise or coneealed in easks, 
and kept them hid in their eellars and outhouses. The 
better to deceive the people of Glarus, they asked for a 
stronger garrison of Confederates. Glarus, mistrusting 
nothing, sent fifty men. 

Suddenly, on the appointed night (St. Matthew's Eve, 
1388) Austrian troops, numbering about six thousand, ar- 
rived before the city from all the neighborhood, overland 
and over the lake of Wallenstat. Every thing was silent 
in the streets, and in the houses where the citizens and 
concealed soldiers awaited the signal for their work of 
death. It came. Immediately every window was illumi- 
nated, every gate opened to admit the troops; then the 
massacre began. Konrad of Au, in Uri, bailiff and gov- 
ernor of the city, was killed, and with him fell more than 
thirty Confederates. Twenty-two leaped from the city- 
walls and escaped by swimming. 

Glarus was filled with terror, and sent a weak handful 
of faithful men to the Landmarch against the invaders. 
The enemy advanced. The paths over the high alps were 
covered with snow. There was no hope of speedy assist- 
ance from the Confederates. They fought for several days 
in the Landmarch. In great distress, Glarus sent to the 
enemy and asked for an equitable peace. The Austrian 
nobles replied haughtily and imperiously to the landam- 
mann and communes of Glarus : '' You must obey the 
duke of Austria, your proper sovereign, as serfs; have 
only such laws as your lord shall give to you ; pay to him 
quit-rent and taxes ; be subject to labor-dues and the right 
to the best chattel, as he shall prescribe ; there shall no 
longer be among you any family free from imposts ; you 
shall give up to him the parchment of the perpetual bond 
you have entered into with the Swiss, and serve him 
against them ; you shall compensate the city of Wesen 
for all the damage she has suffered, and expiate your mis- 
deeds until you deserve the grace of the duke." 

Glarus answered and said : " We willingly acknowledge 
the princess-abbess of Seckingen as the lady of our land, 
and the duke of Austria as having the protectorate. We 
will pay the customary dues, and even compensate thu 



64 MATTHIAS AM BtfEL. [1388- 

city of "Wesen ; but we ask to retain our ancient rights 
and our harmless bond with the Confederates." 

The Austrian councillors and lords haughtily disre- 
garded this request, and marched at once with six thou- 
sand men against the barrier near Nafels, where captain 
Matthias Am Buel was posted with two hundred men of 
Glarus. Women and children fled for safety to the moun- 
tains ; messengers hastened over the Alps to Uri and 
Schwyz; the landsturm (comprising old men and boys, all 
who can handle a weapon) rushed forth. But the over- 
powering army of the Austrians forced the defences-of the 
barrier. Fighting with barely 500 heroes, Am Buel re- 
tired towards mount Euti, that it might cover his rear; 
in front, was a rough plain, strewed with rocks. This 
stony ground impeded the movements of the Austrian 
cavalry ; the people of Glarus threw down masses of rock 
on horse and man, so that confusion soon spread among 
the multitude of the enemy. They were still fighting 
valiantly, when warlike and encouraging shouts were 
heard on the mountain. They came from thirty men of 
Schwyz, hastening to the rescue. The enemy, ignorant 
of their number, were terrified. The alarmed cavalry, 
already in confusion, retreated. Seeing this, the Austrian 
infantry thought that all was lost, and fled in dismay. 
Hurrying upon their footsteps, the spears and swords and 
maces of Glarus made horrible carnage. More than 2500 
men were slain in the orchards and meadows ; many threw 
themselves into the waters of the Linth. The bridge of 
Wesen broke under the mass of fugitives, and the lake 
swallowed up the cuirassed corpses. Such was the battle 
of Nafels on the 9th day of April, 1388. Even at this 
day the people celebrate its anniversary on the first 
Thursday of April, and hear recited the names of the he- 
roes who fell, and of the heroes who conquered, on the 
holy battle-field of freedom. 

Before the fame of this exploit reached the Confederates, 
they were already assembled under their banners. Zurich, 
with auxiliaries from all the Confederates, attacked the 
newly-fortified city of Eapperswyl, but in vain. The 
Bernese, aided by the Soloth urners, conquered Buren, 



-1402.J CONFEDERATE VICTORIES. 65 

Nidau, Unterseen, gained a battle before Freiburg, ravaged 
Aargau, destroyed the family-castle of Peter of Gauen- 
stein, and returned home through the Frickthal laden with 
booty. 

When the dukes of Austria heard of so many reverses, and 
saw that all their possessions in Thurgau and Aargau were 
in great danger, their armies beaten and dispersed, their 
treasures exhausted, they desired to make peace, and con- 
cluded one for seven years. The Swiss held all the districts 
which had sworn to come under their jurisdiction; they 
only gave up Wesen, but on condition that no one of those 
who had broken the oath and taken part in the massacre, 
should dwell there during the peace. 

What Leopold, fourth of this name among the dukes of 
Austria, had not been able to accomplish by force, he at- 
tempted by craft. lie tried at first to sow dissension 
among the Swiss, and did, in fact, gain over burgomaster 
Rudolf Schon and some lords of the council, at Zurich. 
But their treachery was discovered and frustrated. The 
burghers of Zurich banished this dangerous man and his ad- 
herents, and in order to prevent future abuses, swore to an 
act which limited the power of the burgomaster and council. 
And the eight cantons of the Confederacy, assembled in 
diet at Zurich, with Solothurn, agreed among themselves 
to a general law respecting future wars (10 June, 1B93,) 
and swore : '' To avoid useless feuds, but to unite all their 
efforts in case of necessary war ; never to stop fighting even 
when wounded, until the decision of the affair ; not to flee, 
but to remain masters of the field ; not to pillage, except 
by permisvsion of the general ; to spare churches, convents, 
and defenceless wives and daughters." This law of the 
Confederates, made on occasion of the war commenced by 
the battle of Sempach, and for the better ordering of their 
forces, was called the Convention of Sempach. 

When Austria demanded a prolongation of the peace, it 
was fixed at twenty years, and observed. 

The Confederates were glad to have this fine respite, that 
they might increase their franchises and commonwealths 
by ransom and purchase. Then no one was poor, but 
every one rich, when contributions and imposts were re- 

?* 



66 PEACE AND [1388- 

quired for the glory of the fatherland ; as, in the day of 
battles every one was rich in courage and blood. That 
was indeed a golden age. 

Then the Zurichers bought from the impoverished 
Aastrian nobility the bailiwicks of Kussnacht on the lake 
of Zurich, of Hongg and Thalwyl; obtained the signiories 
of Grunenberg, Kegensberg and many others; the Lu- 
cerners acquired all Eothenburg, Ebikon, rights over 
Merischwanden and neighboring villages on the lake of the 
Waldstatten ; received on mortgage the castles of Woll- 
husen, Kusswyl and Entlibuch ; the Bernese secured many 
places and rights in the mountains of the Oberland, the 
valley of Frutigen, fertile Emmenthal, the county of the 
lords of Kyburg in Burgundy, from Thun as far as the 
bridge of Aarwangen. The cities of Solothurn and Bale 
also extended their rights and territories more rapidly with 
gold than they had done with the sword. The always free 
people of the valley of Urseren, on the St. Gotthard, 
united with Uri in a perpetual community of rights ; and 
when the people of the duke of Milan, in consequence of 
a dispute respecting tolls, took from some men of Obwalden 
and Uri the cattle which the latter were driving to the 
yearly fair at Yarese, Uri and Obwalden advanced their 
banners over the St. Gotthard mountain, and caused the 
people of the valley of Leventina to come under their pro- 
tection and to swear allegiance to them. No one opposed 
this, for even the lords of Bellinzona, from fear of the 
Confederates, made an offensive and defensive alliance 
with them. 

Thus, during the days of peace, the Swiss enlarged their 
territory by purchase and negotiation, embellished their 
cities and villages, and ameliorated their constitutions. 
Freiburg in Uechtland abjured her ancient enmity against 
Berne, made a treaty of everlasting friendship and co- 
burghership with the latter, and a perpetual league with the 
city of Bienne. Schaffhausen remodelled her constitution 
on that of Zurich, with greater freedom. But the city of 
Zug had a quarrel with the three communes of Menzingen, 
Baar and Aegeri, respecting the custody of the banner and 
Beal of the canton, so that there was danger of a civil war, 



1402.] ITS FRUITS. 67 

until the Confederates reestablished peace and justice by an 
armed intervention. Glarus ransomed herself from the 
tithes and rights of the abbey of Seckingen, so that every 
one was free from tribute. 

Such were the works of peace among the Confederates 
after the battles for freedom of Sempach and Nafels. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE HEROIC DAYS OF THE APPENZELLERS. 
[A. D. 1403 to 1411.] 

The people in the mountains of Appenzell, on the 
streams of the Sitter, heard of the great battles and doings 
of the Confederates. And they thought with sad hearts 
of the abbot of St. Gallen, what a hard man he was, how 
immoderately he had increased the imperial tribute, and 
of the arbitrary conduct of the officers whom he set over 
them. Impositions, which they could hardly bear, were 
laid with inhumanity. The bailiffs in Schwa3ndi levied a 
heavy toll on cheese, milk and butter, and whoever at- 
tempted to pass the toll-house without paying was seized 
by two trained hounds. The bailiff at Appenzell, to assert 
his right to the best chattel, under which the best coat of 
the dead belonged to Lim, caused a grave to be opened, 
that he might take from the corpse the garment in which 
poor children had buried their father. 

At L'ust the people were filled with indignation, and 
would no longer bear such an abuse of power. They said, 
"This must not continue;" and one day they attacked the 
castles and drove away the officers. Abbot Kuno, at the 
moment, had neither troops on foot, nor money with whi^di 
to hire them. He therefore applied to the ten Suabiun 
imperial cities, with whom he wa.s in league, and asked for 
assistance. The imperial cities sent threatening messages 
to the Appenzellers. These said to the messengers: "We 
will willingly pay all our dues to the abbot, but we can- 



6S ABBOT KUNO. [1403- 

not endure injustice. We only ask that the abbot sball 
choose his officers from among the upright men whom we 
will nominate to him." The imperial cities held council 
at Kavensburg, refused the proposition of the people, and 
reinstated the ejected officers, wbo now added revenge to 
cruelty. 

Abbot Kuno also bad a dispute with the flourishing city 
of St. Grallen, which had already received great franchises 
from the emperors, and was in league with other cities. 
This cit}^, enriched by the activity of her commerce and 
manufactures, would gladly have made herself independent 
of the abbey. As Appenzell and St. Gallen had the same 
fears and the same needs respecting their rights, they made 
a compact with each other, mutually to defend their an- 
cient franchises. This displeased the abbot greatly. He 
increased his harshness towards the Appenzellers, disre- 
garded their complaints, and tried to break their league 
with St. Gallen. Thereat the people became indignant, 
demanded an explanation from the abbot, and seized their 
arms. Kuno, affrighted, fled to his estate at Wyl. The 
ten imperial cities assembled anew and decided: "The 
abbot shall fill his offices with people of the country, but 
without previous nomination ; the amount of the imperial 
tribute shall be fixed by the emperor, but the compact 
which those of Appenzell swore to with St. Gallen is and 
shall be null and void." St. Gallen submitted to this sen- 
tence. But the people in the mountains of Appenzell 
cried out that it was treachery. They saw clearly that the 
lords of the Suabian cities were arrogant and proud, and 
preferred the interests of a prince-bishop before those of 
common peasants. Then the people of the mountains 
assembled together, and the Rotten or Rhodes (cohorts, 
bands) of the country swore to their chiefs, and all the 
communes to the landammann, in the village of Appen- 
zell, to hold together in danger and in death for defence 
of their rights. - 

As they were deserted by the city of St. Gallen, they 
asked the cantons of the Confederates, excepting Berne, to 
be allowed to enter into the bond with them. Five of 
these timidly refused, but Schwyz received Appenzell into 



1411.] JACOB HARTSOH. 69 

her alliance, aud Glarus proclaimed: "Whatever cour- 
ageous lover of liberty wishes to help the Appenzellers, is 
free to do so." 

At news of this, the imperial cities reiterated their 
threatening warning to the people of Appenzell, and after- 
wards, in concert with the abbot, resolved to reduce the 
peasants to subjection by force. They armed cavalry and 
infantry, and sent them to the city of St. Gallen, where 
the abbot entertained them magnificently. Then they ad- 
vanced ; the cavalry, with brilliant coats of mail, in front ; 
behind them five thousand infantry. The army passed 
over the Linsenbuhl, through the sunken way, towards the 
height of Voglinseck, where is the village of Speicher. It 
was the 15th of May, 1403, in the early morning. 

The Appenzellers, well-informed, had with them two 
hundred men of Glarus and three hundred of Schwyz, and 
when the watchers on the mountain-heights gave notice of 
the enemy's approach, the landsturm came forth. Eaoli 
manfully took leave of wife and child, resolved to risk all 
for all ; and the old men, who could not go with them, 
blessed their sons. Two thousand hastened to the top of 
the Voglinseck. Eighty Appenzellers took post in the 
upper part of the sunken way ; on the left and right, near 
them in the woods, lay the men of Glarus and Schwyz. 

The enemy's cavalry rode courageously up the moun- 
tain ; there the eighty attacked them with spears and 
slings ; there the men of Glarus and Schwyz came out 
upon their flanks from the ambush on each side of the 
sunken way. The cavalry in the narrow pass could nei- 
ther fight nor wheel ; thev spurred wildly up the moun- 
tain to reach the plain above, but there all Appenzell 
advanced in armed cohorts, led by Captain Jacob Ilartsch. 
When the enemy's generals saw this, they determined to 
return through the sunken way, and await the Appenzell- 
ers below. They gave the order, " Back !" and at once, 
through the whole troop on the mountain, resounded 
" Back ! back !" Thereat the rear ranks thought that all 
was lost above, and that flight was ordered. Terror seized 
upon them. But Appenzell, Glarus and Schwyz rushed 
at once, from all sides, into the sunken way, slaying therein 



70 RtJDOL^ OF WERDENBERG. [1403- 

above and below. Then ensued a rout and a despairing 
flight towards St. Gallen. Six hundred knights, clothed 
in armor, lay dead in the sunken way ; others dashed 
through their own infantry. Close upon their footsteps 
followed the murderous sword and spear and mace of the 
Appenzeller. 

Now there was great mourning in the ten imperial cities 
for lost fathers and sons, and the cities would risk no more 
for the abbot, but concluded peace. The abbot, on the 
contrary, heaped insults on the cities and on the Appen- 
zellers, who destroyed all his castles in their country, and 
ravaged his domains. He applied to duke Frederic of 
Austria, and said : " Appenzell will become a second Swit- 
zerland, if not prevented ; and, in case she joins the Con- 
federates, the nobility and Austria will lose everything in 
the upper country." 

After many parleyings, duke Frederic promised assist- 
ance, and assembled many noble knights and a large army. 
Then he divided his forces, and advanced upon Arbon and 
St. Grallen, to invade the country on both sides at once. But, 
previously, Kudolf of Werdenberg had appeared before 
the general assembly of the Appenzell ers and said : "I 
have been informed that the duke is raising troops in Ty- 
rol to fight against you. The oppressed must hold to- 
gether ; therefore I come to you. You all know me. 
Behind these rocks is Werdenberg, the inheritance of my 
fathers ; my ancestors were sovereigns in the Rheinthal.* 
Austrian rapacity has robbed me of everything; nothing 
is left to me but my heart and my sword. These I bring 
to you. Let me remain among you, a free countryman of 
Appenzell, and live and fight with you." 

Thus said he, laid aside his armor and rich count's dress, 
put on the common shepherd's clothes, and lived among 
them. Such conduct in this heroic warrior pleased them 
all, and they made him their general-in-chief. They built 
ramparts in the defiles, and renewed their old alliance with 
the city of St. Grallen. 

* A valley on the left bank of the Rhine, in the present canton of St 
Gallen, 



-1411. J Tliy S'l'O^S. 71 

On a rainy day (17 June, 1405) the largest body of duke 
Frederic's forces marched from Altstatten in the Rheinthal, 
ascending towards the frontiers of Apponzell and up the Stoss 
mountain. The way was difficult, the ascent slippery upon 
the short grass of the slope, wet with rain. Four hundred Ap- 
penzellers, with a few men from Glarus and Schwyz, rolled 
rocks and trunks of trees from the heights down u[)on the 
troops. These latter had hardly reached the middle of the 
ascent when Rudolf of Werdenberg gave a signal. Then 
the cohorts of Appenzell rushed with loud shouts upon the 
already broken array ; Rudolf at their head, barefooted 
like all the Appenzellers ; thus they had a surer foothold 
on the slippery soil. The enemy could not use their cross- 
bows, because the strings were slackened by the rain. It 
was only sword and spear, against sword and spear. Aus- 
tria fought with desperation. Suddenly, upon the heights 
behind, appeared a large fresh troop of Appenzellers, who 
seemed determined to cut off the Austrians' retreat. At 
once the terrified enemy hurried down the mountain, Ap- 
penzell slaying as they went. But those on the heights 
were the wives and daughters of Appenzell, all in shep- 
herd's frocks. They wished to die for freedom with their 
husbands, lovers and brothers, or to help them conquer. 
Now, blood and rain flowed mingled, in the mountain- 
streams. Six hours long lasted the combat and the flight 
to the Rheinthal. Then Appenzell returned to the Stoss, 
and, kneeling on the battle-Held, thanked God for this great 
victory. 

In the mean while, duke Frederic, ravaging everything 
on his passage, arrived with his splendid cavalry before the 
walls of the city of St. Gallon. But when he found the 
city too strong, and was returning towards Arbon, the 
burghers of St. Gallen, divided into several small troops, 
fell upon his disorderly march, and killed many Austrians 
on the llauptlisberge. This disgrace troubled the duke 
sorely ; but he was still more troubled when he heard of 
the defeat of his people on the Stoss. Then he swore not 
to retire without vengeance. lie caused a report to be 
spread that he was retreating homewards from Arbon into 
Tyrol, and he did, ia fact, march to the Rhine with hia 



72 THE WOLFSHALDE. [l40S- 

troops. But, having reached the village of Thai, he sud- 
denly wheele 1 about, to cross the Wolfshalde against Ap- 
penzell. He hoped to surprise and terrify the shepherd- 
people. But the Appenzellers were already forewarned. 
Four hundred of them, uttering loud shouts, attacked the 
Austrian soldiers, who marched without mistrust and with- 
out order. The latter hastily took up an advantageous 
post near the church. The combat was terrible. Forty 
Appenzellers were killed before the duke's ranks could be 
broken. But then the Austrians fled in a body down the 
Wolfshalde. Every slain Appenzeller was avenged by 
the death of ten flying enemies. 

Then the duke cursed this war, and rode back into Ty- 
rol. The Appenzellers, the glory and fear of whom spread 
far over the land, now made a league for nine years with 
St. Gallen ; gratefully avenged Rudolf of Werdonberg on 
Austria, and restored to him the inheritance of his fathers ; 
gratefully assisted the Sch wy zers to take the valley of 
Waegi and the Lower March (which now forms the nor- 
thern part of the canton of Schwyz and lies north-west of 
Waegi, in the same canton) from the dukes of Austria, and 
penetrated by the Yorarlberg into Tyrol, near Landeck, 
where they vanquished the duke's mercenaries. Then said 
the Tyrolese peasants on the Inn and the Etsch : " What 
do we care? Let us become free Swiss!" Then the Ap- 
penzellers were informed that the duke was collecting 
the forces of the empire against ihem, on the lake of Con- 
stance. Therefore they hastened home from Tyrol. But 
they found no enemy. 

This war raged for five years. Appenzell, victorious, 
feared by all her enemies on the lake of Constance, the 
Thur and the Inn, took more than sixty castles, destroyed 
more than thirty of them, and at last besieged the city of 
Bregenz, but without success. 

Peace was not thought of until after great desolation in 
all these regions. The king of the Germans himself wished 
to settle the difficulty, but Appenzell considered his de- 
cision partial. By the mediation of Schwyz, abbot Kuno 
had his legitimate revenues restored to him ; but he lost 
forever all sovereign power and rights over Appenzell, 



-1411.] LEAGUE WITH CONFEDERATES. 73 

Austria made a peace for several years, and resumed pos- 
session c»f the Rheinthal. 

The Appenzellers, satisfied with freedom and independ- 
ence in their mountain-home, on St. Catherine's day, 1411, 
entered into a league with the Confederates, but not then 
with Berne ; agreed not to undertake another war without 
the consent of the Swiss, and, in case of war, to assist the 
latter with all their force and at their own expense. The 
Swiss, on the other hand, reserved to themselves united, 
and to each canton separately, the right to extend or to 
limit this league, and, if they were obliged to aid the Ap- 
penzellers in a war, it was to be at the expense of the 
latter. 

The formation of this league, which did not give equal 
rights to both parties, shows how much the Appenzellers 
feared for the maintenance of their newly-acquired inde- 
pendence, since they were willing to purchase the league 
with the Confederates at any price ; and how much, on 
the other hand, the Confederates feared being drawn into 
bloody conflict with foreigners by the warlike people of 
Appenzell. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE CONFEDERATES CONQUER AARGAU AND ESTABLISH COMMON 

BAILIWICKS. 

[A. D. 1412 to 1418.] 

After the brave people in the mountains of Appenzell 
had obtained their liberty and formed a league with the 
Confederates, they were well contented, and no longer 
desired war. Duke PVederic of Austria, also, saw that it 
wafl useless to contend with a people strong in union for 
their right, preferring independence to life. He saw, more- 
over, that the Confederates were so powerful that their 
friendship was more desirable to him than their enmity. 
Therefore duke Frederio opened a negotiation with them, 
and concluded a treaty for nfty yej^rs with the eight repuh- 



74 THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. [1412- 

lics or cantons who composed the Confederacy (on the 28th 
of May, 1412) and recognized their right to all they held. 
They, on their side, recognized the mortgages, fiefs and 
other rights which the duke held in their country. This 
fifty years' peace was assented to by sixteen cities in the 
duke s hereditary domains, viz. : Schaffhausen and Wald- 
shut, Laufenburg, Seckingen, Kheinfelden, Diessenhofen, 
Baden, Rapperswyl, Brugg, Bremgarten, Zofingen, Sursee, 
Lenzburg, Mellingen, Aarau and Frauenfeld. 

But this peace lasted barely three years. Then it hap- 
pened that Sigismund, king of the Germans, went to Con- 
stance, where, at the same period, a great council was as- 
sembled to put an end to the many differences in the Chris- 
tian church. Thither came the principal prelates from 
countries far and near, and embassadors from the kings 
and princes of Italy, Grermany, France, England, Poland, 
Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and many other kingdoms. 
An arrangement and settlement had become necessary, 
because a priest, named Huss, had preached, at Prague in 
Bohemia, a new doctrine, opposed to that of the catholic 
church, and had found many followers. Besides this, the 
catholic church was divided in herself, as, instead of one 
pope, she had three popes, in Italy and France, who 
anathematized and excommunicated each other. This 
occasioned much scandal in Christendom. 

While the spiritual and temporal princes were assem- 
bled at Constance, duke Frederic had a quarrel with em- 
peror Sigismund. The duke refused to go to Constance 
to receive his fiefs from the hand of the emperor, accord- 
ing to ancient custom. The fathers of the council were 
also incensed against the duke, because he had taken under 
his powerful protection one of the popes, named John, 
whom they wished to depose. As the duke obstinately 
refused obedience to the church-council, they pronounced 
against him the anathema of Judas and the greater excom- 
munication. The emperor declared him guilty of high 
treason against the imperial majesty and against the em- 
pire, stripped him of all princely honors and deprived him 
of his fiefs. All faithful subjects of the empire were sum- 
pioned against the duke, as were the Confederates also. 



-1418.] Berne's ambition. 75 

The emperor summoned the city of Schaffhausen against the 
duke, her lord, and, as an inducement, offered her inde- 
pendence, that she, like other free cities, might hold direct- 
ly from the empire. The people of Schaffhausen eagerly 
seized this offer. Frauenfeld, Diessenhofen and almost all 
Aargau listened to the same or similar proposals from the 
emperor. 

But the Confederates felt a just scruple at violating the 
fifty years' treaty they had recently concluded with the 
duke. The holy assembly of the church, it was true, de- 
clared such a course exempt from all sin, and the emperor 
said : *' The territory which you may conquer from Aus- 
tria, your hereditary enemy, shall remain your property 
in all time." But those in the Waldstatten, as well as 
Zurich, Zug, Lucerne and Glarus, answered : " We cannot 
persuade ourselves that such a breach of faith can be hon- 
orable." 

Berne, however, thought differently. The opportunity 
appeared favorable to increase her own domains and to 
diminish the power of Austria in her neighborhood. Un- 
til this time, the city had enlarged her territory, not by the 
sword, but by negotiation and principally by purchase. 
But now Berne said to Zurich: "Justice and honor per- 
mit the war, since empire and church command it ; the 
hour for the destruction of all the enemies of our fore- 
fathers has now struck !" As the Confederates still hesi- 
tated, the emperor sent frequently renewed messages to 
them, and the church-council, several times, threatened to 
excommunicate all the Confederates, if they did not march 
against the duke. 

Berne speedily armed her troops. When Zurich saw 
this, she wished not to be behind, but to have her share 
of the booty. Then the other Confederates* obeyed the 
summons of the emperor and of the church ; but Appenzell 
did not. 

When the cities and nobles in Aargau were informed of 
these things, and of the disgrace of their sovereign, duko 

• Zug appears to liave remained firm in her refusal, and to have taken 
no part in the expedition. 



76 PRIDE OF THE NOBLES. [l412- 

Frederic, thej assembled in diet at Sursee, in the spring 
of 1415. And the cities said, '''Let us remain neutral 
between Austria and Switzerland, and maintain our 
prince's rights with our own liberties. The time has come 
when all Aargau should make a perpetual league for the 
protection of all. Then she can enter the Swiss Confeder- 
acy as a single free state, without fear of a greater, without 
subjection to her equals, and on a par with all the cantons 
of the Swiss in honor and dignity." 

The pride of the barons and nobles would not allow 
them to make common cause with the cities. They pre- 
ferred to serve a prince rather than to have burghers for 
equals. So the Diet separated without result. But the 
cities resolved to place themselves under the protection of 
the whole Confederacy. This, also, was already too late. 

For, when the deputies of the cities started, in the early 
mor.ning, on their mission to the Confederates, they saw, 
on all the heights, the Swiss signals of attack, and their 
banners and troops on the march. Sadly they returned 
home. 

The Bernese troops marched upon Zofingen, harassed 
the city several days, and compelled it to abjure the duke 
and to take an oath to the empire and to Berne. To the 
right of Zofingen are the Wyxen, four towers upon rocky 
summits ; the Bernese took three, the Lucerners carried the 
fourth. On the left of Zofingen is Aarburg, the fortress, 
next to the little city on the Aar ; Berne took both, as well 
as the two Wart-burgen (watch-towers) on the neighboring 
mountain-summits. Then the troops marched upon Aarau, 
having been reinforced from Solothurn, Bienne, Neuchatel, 
and Neustadt. Aarau, notwithstanding the opposition of 
some of her citizens, yielded herself, with reservation of 
her franchises, into the protection of the Koman empire 
and of the cities of Berne and Solothurn. Brugg and 
Lenzburg also capitulated on similar conditions; many 
castles in Aargau did the same: Trostburg, which was 
destroyed by fire, Kuod, Brunegg, and others. Thus the 
Bernese, in a few weeks, by the rapidity of their attack, 
subjected seventeen strong castles and walled cities, with- 
out loss to themselves. Only before the castle of Wildegg, 



-1418.] SCRUPLES OF ITRI. 77 

where the valiant barons of Ilallwyl made a vigorous re- 
sistance, were four men slain. 

At the same time, the Lucerners unfurled their banners 
over Sursee, subjected the upper countries on the Sur, 
Wiggern, Aa, and Winna, until they reached the limits of 
the Bernese conquests. Towards the east, they conquered 
the fertile country near Reichensee, Meyenberg, and Vili- 
rnergen. 

The Zurichers had already passed Mount Albis into the 
free bailiwick of Knonau, which they compelled to take 
the oath to them. Another troop went by the Limmat 
against Baden in Aargau, taking Dietikon. 

In the region where the Limmat and the Eeuss approach 
the Aar, the troops of the seven cantons of the Confeder- 
acy united, and together conquered what remained of the 
hereditary domains of Austria : Mellingen, Bremgarten, 
Baden. Mellingen maintained her faith to the duke for 
four davs; Baden made a still stronger resistance. In the 
castle, tlie Stein, above Baden, was the lord of Mannsberg 
with a numerous force. But when the engines of the Ber- 
nese had battered down a part of the walls, and water failed 
the besieged, the Stein of Baden, also, was surrendered and 
destroyed. Far over the land shone the flames of that an- 
cient castle. 

After their conquests were concluded, the Confederates 
organized their new domains. What Berne, Zurich and 
Lucerne had conquered by their individual arms, each of 
the three cities kept for herself, with the rights which 
Austria had possessed. What had been conquered in 
common, was to be the individual domain of all, only 
Berne was excluded from participation, because she al- 
ready had so much. 

But Uri said : " We learn that the emperor has been re- 
conciled to duke Frederic. Let us rather give back to the 
emperor what we have taken, that he may restore to the 
duke what is his. For this war was not ours, but the em- 
peror's. We, O Confederates! we men of Uri will have no 
Bhare in what is not our own. Our fathers have transmit- 
ted to us the custom of esteeming an inviolable fidelity 
above all other things." 

o* 



78 ABANDO]SfME^fT Of PRlNCIPtE. [1419- 

The other Confederates laughed at this, and said : " How 
scrupulous and godly these men of Uri are ! They must 
always be peculiar 1" And they decided : " Inasmuch as 
Uri refuses, Zurich, Lucerne, Schwyz, Unterwalden and 
Grlarus shall alternately send a bailiff, for two years, into 
these common bailiwicks, and, every year, deputies from 
all the participating cantons shall examine into the govern- 
ment and the management of the revenues." 

Thus the Confederates kept their conquests, and were 
confirmed in them by the emperor. They reigned over 
these countries in the place of Austria, and, though free 
burghers in cities and cantons, had, like princes, greatly 
increased the number of their subjects. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE MAZZA OF VALAIS AGAINST RARON". THE BATTLE OF ARBEDO, 
AND THE CUNNING OF LORD ZOPPO. 

[A. D. 1419 to 1426.] 

A CENTURY had now hardly elapsed since the deed of 
William Tell, and the cities and cantons of Switzerland, 
formerly subject, had made others subject, and were feared 
by those before whom they had themselves trembled. And 
the sons of the old warriors and knfghts, who, from their 
castles on the rocks, had formerly threatened the cities, 
now" humbly asked for the right of citizenship in them, or 
sold to them their lands, and went into other countries, 
that they might not be compelled to obey plebeian burghers. 

Therefore the cities and cantons of the Confederacy felt 
their strength and a military pride, which could not be 
wounded with impunity, either by friends or foes. This 
was seen in the quarrels occasioned by Wichard of Raron, 
captain-general of Valais. 

At the time when the Confederates, with the people of 
Uri, conquered the Leventina, they also took possession of 
the neighboring valley of Ossola, and left there a weak 



-1426.] FLIGHT OF RAROJST. 79 

garrison. The duke of Milan, unwilling to leave Ossola to 
the Swiss, sold it to the duke of Savoy. The latter sent 
troops to Ossola through Valais; the baron of Raron 
showed them the way over the mountains, and the few 
Swiss were compelled to retire. 

The baron of Karon said : " If I had been there, no Swiss 
should have been left alive." These arrogant words em- 
bittered the people of Unterwalden and Uri ; they accused 
the baron in vain before Berne, where he was a citizen ; 
therefore they excited against him the peasants of Yalais. 
The latter had already many subjects of complaint against 
him : that he had made a compact with Savoy contrary tc 
their will ; that he and the grandees of the country viola- 
ted the ancient customs, and wished to introduce serfdom. 
The men of Brieg said : "If Yalais is to retain her ancient 
rights, the great lords must be bitted and curbed ; all hon- 
est men must lend a hand for this." 

And, according to a very ancient custom of the country, 
some men took an enormous club, on which they carved a 
human face with an expression of sadness, and surrounded 
it with thorns; this represented oppressed justice, and was 
called " La Mazza" by the Valaisians. They raised it on 
high in an open square, the people came around it, and a 
bold man stood by the club, as chief of the Mazza, and 
held it. Then many of the people addressed the image and 
said : " Mazza, why art thou here ?" But it answered not. 
Others said : " Mazza, we wish to help thee ; tell us, against 
whom ? Art thou afraid of the Sillenen ? Does Asper- 
ling or Henngarten (signiors of the country) trouble thee?" 
The Mazza remained motionless and silent. But when 
they named the captain-general Raron, it made a low af&r- 
mative bow. Thereon they removed the Mazza, and car- 
ried it from village to village, through all the Zehnten of 
Yalais, and it was proclaimed that the Mazza was aggrieved 
by the captain-general and all his partisans, and by the 
bishop of Sion, his nephew. 

When the baron of Raron saw the excitement of the 
angry people, he fled into Savoy, and implored the duke's 
assistance. But the peasantry destroyed his great castle on 
the height above Sierre (Siders), and the bishop's fort above 



80 INVASION OF VALAIS. [1419- 

Leuk in Asche, and besieged his strong castle Beauregard, 
on the high rock over Chippis. They ravaged all his es- 
tates, and the duke of Savoy dared not assist him. 

So he hastened to Berne, where he was a citizen, and 
asked for help and succor. But those of Yalais applied to 
Uri and Unterwalden, and, as free peasants, concluded a 
mutually defensive alliance, and promised to aid them to 
retake Ossola, which valley borders on Yalais. Those of 
Uri and Unterwalden at once crossed the highest Alps ; 
Schwyz, Lucerne and Zurich went with them ; the Yalais- 
ians did the same, and the whole valley of Eschen or Os- 
sola was reconquered. 

But Berne carried the case of the baron of Earon before 
all the Confederates, and demanded justice. Long parley- 
ings ensued. Berne wished to march against Yalais, and 
summoned the Confederates. But Unterwalden and Uri 
refused, as did Lucerne. A war between the Confederates 
themselves was imminent. To prevent this, the neutral 
cantons formed a diet at Zurich, and, after having heard 
those who were for and against Raron, decided : " First of 
all, Yalais must restore to the baron the property which 
has been taken from him ; then he shall do justice to the 
country on all complaints." 

But the party-leaders in Yalais did not like this deci- 
sion, and persuaded the people to an obstinate resistance. 
They assembled some peasants, entered Oberhasli, seized 
and drove away the flocks of sheep, on pretext that the 
baron of Raron had before, with men of the 'Oberland, in- 
vaded Yalais and committed ravages. Immediately, for 
the security of her passes, Berne sent a force against Ya- 
lais. Schwyz and Zurich tried once more to mediate. But 
the Yalaisians would not give back, and preferred war to 
moderation. 

Then the Bernese, joined by the banners of Freiburg, 
Solothurn, Neuchatel and others, thirteen thousand strong, 
marched over the highest Alps against the Zehnten of 
Gombs, and over mount Sanetsch against Sierre in Yalais. 
They also received reinforcements from Schwyz, but neither 
Uri nor Unterwalden sent any to the Yalaisians, on ac- 
count of the obstinacy of the latter. Many villages fell 



-U26.] THOMAS BRANTSCHEN. 81 

in flames. Terror spread throughout the whole of Yalais. 

But a common peasant, Thomas Brantschen, restored 
courage to his fellow-citizens by his intrepidity, and, as he 
saw the plundering enemy advancing towards the village 
of Ulrichen : " What," said he, " has become of Yalais, the 
ancient hero-land ? Did not our fathers formerly defeat 
the duke of Zahringen in a bloody battle near Ulrichen ? 
Let us once again conquer here for the fatherland and our 
ancient liberty, or die a glorious death." 

Thus cried he, and, with four hundred valiant Yalais- 
ians, rushed from an ambush upon the thousands of Con- 
federates, as they marched without mistrust. Brantschen 
fought like a hero. Forty Bernese lay dead before him ; 
then he also fell, the lion of Yalais. Terror was in the 
ranks of the Bernese. They wavered. Then appeared 
the array of Schwyz, and compelled the Yalaisians to re- 
treat to their first position. No one pursued them. On 
the next day the Confederates marched out of Yalais. The 
Bernese troops from Saanen had also met with a terrible 
resistance from the Yalaisians, near Sion. 

Fresh propositions of peace were made. Finally, the 
Yalaisians unwillingly consented to restore his signiories 
to the baron of Raron, to pay him ten thousand guilders 
(20,800 French francs) for all damages ; the same sum to 
Berne for the expenses of the war, and four thousand to 
the chapter of Sion. This was in 1420, a few months after 
the heroic action of Thomas Brantschen. But the baron 
of Raron died, far from his native land. The splendor of 
his family was forever tarnished, because he had not 
known how to win the love of the people. 

In the mean while, the duke of Milan had not forgotten 
the valley of Ossola, and he was the more angry when he 
also learned that the Confederates had bought from the 
barons of Sax, then signiors of Bellinzona, that city and 
all the district which extends from the Leventina to Lago 
Maggiore, for twenty-four hundred guilders. He armed 
secretly, and, with a large force, invaded Ossola and Bel 
linzona. These, as well as Leventina, were compelled to 
Bwear fealty to him. 

Too late for vengeance rose the Confederates. Since the 
4* 



82 PETERMANISr Rrsia. [1419- 

conquest of Aargau their ancient concord had no longer 
prevailed among them. This delayed them. Discord also 
tarnished the glory of a bloodily-purchased victory, when 
they passed the St. Grotthard, and met the Milanese forces 
in the plain of Arbedo, not far from Bellinzona. There, 
from morning to evening, the Confederates had to contend 
against Italian skill and despair. There fell many valiant 
heroes of Switzerland : John Eot, landammann of Uri ; 
Henry Puntiner, banneret of Uri; and old Peter Kolin, 
ammann and banneret of Zug. Kolin fell dying with his 
banner in front of his troop. One of his sons drew the 
banner from under his father's body, and raised it, bloody, 
over the combatants. Death took him also, but the enemy 
did not take the banner. John Landwing saved it. This 
was on the 30th of June, 1422. 

Saddened by so many deaths, and by their poor victory, 
each reproaching the others, the Confederates marched 
back over the St. Gotthard. They left only a garrison in 
Leventina. For several years they disputed among them- 
selves as to what should be done, adopted half measures 
with half minds, and accomplished nothing against 
Milan. 

This disgusted Petermann Eysig, a stout-hearted coun- 
tryman of Schwyz. He assembled five hundred cour- 
ageous men, and with them passed the St. Grotthard, then 
to the right into the valley of Ossola over the mountains, 
drove out the Milanese garrison, and kept possession. All 
the forces of Milan marched against the valley. But Pe- 
termann Eysig kept possession. Now first waked the 
Confederates, aroused by the deed of the few Schwyzer 
heroes, and marched towards Ossola. From Solothurn, 
Valais, Toggenburg and Ehetia came auxiliaries. Thereat 
the duke of Milan was discouraged ; but what he could 
not hope to gain by force of arms, he expected to accom- 
plish by cunning. 

And he said to his chamberlain Zoppo: "Go with my 
gold to the Confederates, and negotiate with them." Then 
came lord Zoppo, cunning as a fox and discreet, talked in 
a friendly manner with the council-lords, and was very 
liberal; divided their interests from each other; first per- 



-1426.J THE ItOLlNS. 88 

suaded Uri, Nidwalden and Lucerne to make a separate 
peace for themselves, and afterwards gained over the 
others by secret negotiations. And, in the year 1426, the 
Confederates gave up to the duke of Milan the valleys of 
Ossola, Bellinzona, and even Leventina, for thirty-one 
thousand and some hundreds of guilders, and for certain 
franchises and toll-gratifications in favor of their merchants 
and petty dealers. The Confederates returned home. The 
heroic action of Petermann Rysig was made of no avail ; 
in vain had the blood of the noble Kolins dyed their ban- 
ner before Arbedo. Truly, in all ancient and modern 
times, no powerful enemy has been so formidable to the 
Swiss as a lord Zoppo. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF RHETIA, THE UPPER LEAGUE, THE GOd's- 
HOUSE LEAGUE, AND THE LEAGUE OF THE TEN JURISDICTIONS 
ARE FORMED IN BEHALF OF LIBERTY. 

[A. D. 1426 to 1436.] 

While the Confederates were selling for money what 
had cost them the blood of so many heroes, a far different 
spirit prevailed in the elevated valleys of the Rhetian 
mountains: the spirit of liberty, of everlasting justice and 
concord. 

In mountainous Rhetia, the people, from the old Frank 
times, had been tributary, subjects and serfs of the bishop 
of Coire, the abbots of Disentis and PfefiPers, and other 
ecclesiastical lords, and of numberless counts, barons and 
nobles. The city of Coiro had, it is true, many franchises, 
but she also endured many vexations from her bishop. 
And the poor people in the villages suffered severely in 
the wars constantly carried on by the many great or small 
lords, and suffered just as severely in peace from the harsh- 
ness and cruelty of their masters. Never had Uri, Schwyz 
and Unterwalden worse tyrants than had Rhetia; but 
Rhetia had also her Tells. 



B4 At)AM THE CAMOGAST^ER. [U26- 

When the despotism, selfisbness, injustice and pride of 
the ruling signiors had reached their height, then the poor 
people in Khetia remembered that they also were men, 
and, moreover, that God had given to them, as his chil- 
dren, rights which no tyrant should violate. And the 
courage of a few honest men, in separate valleys, awakened 
the courage of the whole people in defence of their ever- 
lasting rights. 

In the high verdant valley of Engadine, from the gla- 
ciers of which the Inn rushes forth towards Tyrol, stood 
the castle of Gardoval, the terror of the country, on the 
rocks above the village of Madulein. There dwelt the 
baiUff of the convent of Coire, a cruel and arbitrary man, 
who governed and judged in the name of the bishop of 
Upper Engadine. He saw the beauty of a young girl in 
the village of Camogast, which lay across the Inn, on the 
mountain, sheltered by the forest. And he sent his ser- 
vants to bring the young girl to him that same day. The 
maiden's father, whose name was Adam, was filled with 
terror, his daughter with despair. But Adam mustered 
courage, and said to the servants: "Tell your lord that I 
will bring my child to him at the castle to-morrow morn- 



ing." 



As soon as they were gone, the father hastened to his 
neighbors and friends, with rage in his soul, fire in his 
eyes. He told them what had happened, and cried: 
"Have we, men, become the cattle of this lord ?" Indig- 
nation was aroused in every breast, and, in the darkness 
of the night, they swore to put an end to the misery of 
th-e valley, or to perish together. 

But, in the early morning, Adam the Camogaster led 
his beautiful daughter, in her holiday dress, as a bride, to 
Gardovall. Some of the conspirators followed, as a train 
of honor ; others had placed themselves in ambush, near 
the castle, awaiting the moment for action : all were 
armed. 

When the castellan saw the maiden, he sprang hastily 
down the castle-steps, to embrace the innocent girl before 
her father's eyes. Then Adam of Camogast drew his 
swordj and plunged it into the heart of the tyrant. He 



-I486.] JOHN CHALDAR. 85 

and his friends rushed into the castle, slew the servants, 
gave the signal of liberty from the windows, and were 
joined by those in ambush. Grardovall was burned. Af- 
terwards (1494) the district below the sources of the Inn 
loyally bought itself free from the sovereignty of the con- 
vent. 

The fertile pasture-valley of Schams, smiling pleasantly 
among the high Alps, and formerly subject to the counts 
of Werdenberg, was governed by the bailiffs of the bish- 
opric of Coire, dwelling in the castles of Barenberg and 
Fardun. They practised every thing against the people, 
even the most humiliating outrages ; and the people suf- 
fered and were silent. Strong John Chaldar suffered also, 
but was not silent. When two horses of the lord of Far- 
dun were turned into his wheat, he was angered, and killed 
them on the spot. He expiated this deed in bonds and 
chains, until his family were able to free him by the pa}^- 
ment of large sums and by many tears. 

After Chaldar had returned rejoicing to his family and 
was seated with them at dinner in his cabin, the lord of 
Fardun entered. All saluted him respectfully, but he 
looked contemptuously at them, and spat into their broth. 
Then Chaldar's anger blazed like lightning; grasping the 
tyrant by neck and throat : " Now eat the soup which thou 
hast seasoned!" cried he ; plunged the head of the wretched 
man into the contaminated food, and strang^led him. Then 
he rushed out from his cabin, and roused the people. Far- 
dun and Barenburg crumbled in blood and flames. The 
bishop was compelled to surrender to the valley his rights 
over it, for a compensation of thirty-two hundred guilders 
(1458). 

As, in these valleys, the signiors advanced the cause of 
liberty by their inhumanity and tyranny, so, in other dis- 
tricts of Khetia, they helped it by their ambition. Bishop 
Hartmann of Coire was constantly at war with the nobles 
of the land. Having suffered much damage, and not being 
himself able to defend the numerous domains of his bish- 
opric, scattered as they were throughout an enemy's coun- 
try, he granted to his subject-districts the right to form 
defensive alliances with the neighboring valleys and dis» 



86 EARLY ALLIANCES. [l42«- 

tricts. Thus (as early as 1396) the God's-house people^ 
of the valleys of Domleschg, Avers, Oberhalbstein and 
Berguii had made a league with the lords of Werdenberg 
in Schams, Domleschg and Obervatz. This was the first 
foundation of the subsequent Grod's-house league. 

The counts and lords of the Ehetian highlands had done 
the same, and in union with the people of the valleys, al- 
ready leagued together, had concluded with their neigh- 
bors of Glarus (in 1400) a perpetual defensive alliance 
against the offensive pretensions of the bishop of Coire. 

But, in these alliances of the valleys, the rights, great 
and small, of their various lords were always reserved ; 
and these rights were much abused. The lords knew no 
law but their own will and power. There was neither 
justice in the courts nor safety on the highways. 

Desiring to put an end to these disorders, without vio- 
lence and without revolt, several loyal, respected and in- 
trepid peasants formed an association in Upper Khetia. 
They met every night between the abbey of Disentis and 
the little city of Ilanz, the first walled place on the Khine. 
There, in a wood near the village of Truns, they met and 
conversed together; and afterwards communicated their 
resolves, in confidence, to the most estimable men of their 
respective communes. 

Then, on one and the same day, all the communes and 
valleys of Upper Khetia sent their most respected and best- 
informed men as deputies to their several signiors, to de- 
mand that justice and security should be guaranteed to all 
by a solemn agreement to which all should make oath, 
without injury to the real rights of the greatest or the 
least. 

The signiors were terrified by this demand issuing from 
the forest of Truns, and they thought of what had taken 
place in the Swiss Confederacy one hundred years before. 
The pious and prudent abbot of Disentis, lord Peter of 
Pultinga, was the first who assented to the just require- 
ments of the people. The counts of Werdenberg, of Sax, 

* Subjects of the Convent or God's-house, as all religious establishments 
were called ; or Casa Dei, whence Caddean, the name sometimes given tp 



-I486.] THE MAPLE-TREE OF TRUNS. 87 

the barons of Ehezuns, and others, followed ; either from 
fear of their own subjects, or from fear of the powerful 
bishop of Coire, and to strengthen themselves against the 
latter. 

Then these lords, and the deputies of the communes of 
Upper Rhetia in their modest grey frocks, met in front of 
the village of Truns, in the open air, under the shade of a 
maple-tree, and swore by the holy Trinity to a perpetual 
covenant for the maintenance of justice and security, with- 
out injury to the rights of the greatest or the least. This 
was in May, 1424. Thus was formed the Upper or Grey 
league (so called from the grey frocks of the deputies). 
Afterwards it was completed by the accession of the val- 
leys of Misox and Calanca. Soon the name of Grisons 
(Graubundner : Grey-leaguers) spread over the whole of 
Ehetia, although the God's house league already existed 
separately, and although, moreover, there were numerous 
districts in the mountains, on the side of Tyrol, which be- 
longed, neither to the God's- house nor to the Grey league, 
but to the extensive sovereignty of the rich count, Frederic 
of Toggenburg. 

But, shortly afterwards, this rich count died childless, 
and there was great fear of a war for the inheritance. Then 
assembled the people of the districts, villages and juris- 
dictions which belonged to the house of Toggenburg, in 
Rhetia. They came from Davos and Klosters, Kastels, 
Schiersch and See wis, even from the prebendary's juris- 
diction of Schiersch, from Malans, Maienfeld, Belfort, 
Churwalden, Outer and Inner Schalfick. They said: 
" Since we are left free by the death of the count of Tog- 
genburg, let us, like the people of God's- house and the 
Highlands, make, in these mountains, a league which shall 
endure forever: for the injury of no one, but for the pro- 
tection of our hereditary rights ; for union in danger and 
in death. No one shall cite another before a foreign tri- 
bunal, nor make alliance with others, but by consent of 
all. When the estate of Toggenburg shall be settled, we 
will surrender his property to the recognized heir, but 
even he shall not be able to dissolve our league. So said 
they and solemnly swore on the Friday after Corpus- 



88 THE EHETIANS CALLED GRISONS. [1436- 

Christi daj in 1486. This was the origin of the League 
of the Ten Jurisdictions. 

A new Confederacy was also formed, between the three 
leagues of the Ehetian Alps. And the Rhetians from that 
time were called Grisons. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

QUARREL RESPECTING THE TOGGENBURG-INHERITANCE, 
[A. D. 1436 to 1443.] 

Very different effects did the death of the rich count of 
Toggenburg produce among the Swiss : here it enkindled 
the destructive flames of civil war. 

As soon as Frederic of Toggenburg closed his eyes in 
advanced old age, numerous heirs presented themselves. 
His domains were large ; many lay beyond the Rhine ; 
many along the Appenzeller mountains from the lake of 
Zurich as far as Tyrol. Among them were the Toggen- 
burger-land, the signiory of Uznach, the March, Windegg 
in (raster, the Rheinthal and the Ten Jurisdictions in the 
Grison country. There were others also in Thurgau and 
elsewhere. Madam Elizabeth, widow of the deceased, 
thought herself the rightful heiress ; but some distant rela- 
tives of her husband disputed her right, and advanced 
their own claims. Zurich, also, believed herself to have 
some rights over this inheritance, because the count, who 
died childless, had been her citizen and co-burgher ; 
Schwyz made the same claim, because the count had been 
co-burgher with that canton likewise. 

Madam Elizabeth, to secure a powerful protector, united 
with the city of Zurich, and made to the latter, under hand 
and seal, a donation in form of Uznach, the Uznach moun- 
tain and Schmerikon. The Schwyzers thereupon requested 
the count's relatives to forbid his widow to alienate any 
portion of the estate. Then those of the count's subjects 
who inhabited Lichtensteig, ISTeckarthal, Thurthal, St. 
Johmworthiii^ Uznach and the lower part of the lake of 



-1443.] ^UPwtCrt AND SCHWYZ. 89 

Wallenstatt, came and said to Schwyz : "Our late lord, 
always thoughtful of our happiness during his life, wished 
that, after his death, we might find protection and security 
with you. Keceive therefore our oath, and number us 
henceforward forever among your people." And the peo- 
ple of the country of Sargaus, which the count of Toggen- 
burg had only held on mortgage, requested duke Frederic 
of Austria to ransom them, as his faithful subjects. He 
did so. But, perceiving that their intentions were not 
loyal, he gave them up to count Henry of Werdenberg. 

When Zurich learned that the people in Uznach and 
other places had sworn allegiance to Schwyz, the city was 
angry and made many threats, because Uznach was her 
domain. But the Schwyzers at once sent troops into the 
March and to Uznach, to protect their new people by 
force, denied the right of the Zurichers, and associated 
Glarus in the sovereignty over the new territory, that they 
might have her support in case of need. 

Since the rulers in the cities and cantons of Switzerland 
had conquered Aargau and established the common baili- 
wicks, they had become haughty ; they indeed wished to 
enjoy liberty themselves, but not to confer it on others; 
they preferred subjects rather than free fellow-citizens, 
their equals in rights. As formerly they had been unwill- 
ing to admit Aargau to a free participation in their confed- 
erate bond, so now, their intentions were no better respect- 
ing Toggenburg. They wished to be lords ; they wished 
to have serfs. 

Hence much discord, hatred and contention. A great 
Diet, assembled at Zurich, in vain attempted to restore con- 
cord. The deputies departed more embittered than they 
had come. Then, at the head of Zurich was the burgo- 
master Eudolf Stussi, and at the head of Schwyz the lan- 
dammann Itel Reding of Bieberegg. Both ambitious, 
enterprising, talented and eloquent men; but they hated 
each other, and each was zealous for his own canton, in- 
different to the peace and welfare of the common Con- 
federacy. 

Then for the first time was seen what an abyss of misery 
is opened by cantonal egotism and selfishness, when the 



00 RUDOLF STUSSI. [14.^6- 

interests of one canton are preferred to those of the whole 
Confederacy. During the great famine of 1439, occasioned 
by continual rains which destroyed the crops in the ground, 
it had already become evident that the ancient beautiful 
union no longer existed. One canton meanly prohibited 
the exportation of provisions into the others, so that the 
sufferings of all were increased, and with them the hatred. 
Schwyz and Zurich then threatened each other with the 
sword. 

To prevent greater misfortunes, the Confederates arbi- 
trated at Berne. Schwyz assented to their decision, but 
Zurich would not listen to it. The latter called the Con- 
federates partial, because they left Uznach to the Schwyzers, 
although the countess Elizabeth had deeded it to Zurich ; 
and moreover, no mention was made of Caster and Win- 
degg, although Schwyz had taken possession of these dis- 
tricts before the decision, and in spite of the protest of the 
Confederates. 

Burgomaster Stussi said, " Then the sword must decide." 
But he first sent to the Schwyzers an open letter, in which 
he no longer styled them Confederates. And he proposed 
to them an appeal to the tribunal of the Koman king, as 
head of the German empire, from which they both held. 
The SchwyzerG replied, " The king's tribunal may be ex- 
cellent, but it is not that we swore to be ruled by in our 
perpetual bond as Confederates." 

Thereat the Zurichers and Schwyzers marched with their 
troops against each other on Mount Ezel. The Schwyzers 
took post above, the Zurichers below, near Pfefl&kon. Stussi 
himself went against the March, but found those of Glarus 
and Schwyz so well entrenched and fortified that he with- 
drew without undertaking anything. Envoys from Uri 
and Unterwalden came to Itel Reding on the Ezel. They 
besought him, in the name of God and the fatherland, 
again to attempt a reconciliation, in order to prevent that 
unheard-of crime — the shedding of Confederate blood by 
Confederate hands. But at this moment blood had already 
been shed. For a troop of Zurichers advanced as far as 
the first posts of the Schwyzers. Many were wounded; 
eleven Zurichers slain ; the rest fled. 



-1443.J LEVENTINA RETAKEN. 91 

The Confederates, however, once more obtained a truce 
and fresh negotiations. But nothing could be accomplished, 
because Zurich persisted in preferring the arbitration of the 
Roman king to that of the Confederates. Then all the 
Confederates became embittered against Zurich. Zurich 
armed, and Stussi marched with more than six thousand 
men towards Mount Ezel, where Schwyz and Glarus 
awaited him in warlike array ; some soldiers from Uri and 
Unterwalden had also joined the latter. 

But in the middle of the night, a strange, unaccountable 
terror suddenly seized upon the Zurichers posted near 
Pfefi&kon. In their fright, they hastily embarked in fifty- 
two bateaux, and fled through the darkness to Zurich. The 
Schwyzers stationed on the upper part of the Ezel imme- 
diately marched down, overpowered and occupied the coun- 
try on the lake, and persuaded all the Confederates to ad- 
vance against Zurich. 

Fear and disorder prevailed in the city, when she saw 
herself deprived of all assistance ; she negotiated anew and 
submitted to the arbitration of the Confederates. Not only 
was Zurich compelled to give up all claim upon Toggen- 
burg, but, also, to reimburse Schwyz and Grlarus, by sur- 
rendering all property and rights over land and people in 
PfefS-kon, Wollrau, Hurden, and other places. Thus one 
canton made conquests from another. In the same year, 
(1440), Schwyz, in a more honorable manner, acquired the 
village of Merlischachen from the wealthy lords of Moss, 
and Uri found opportunity to recover the lost valley of 
Leventina. It happened in this wise : Either at Airolo or 
at Bellinzona, the justice stipulated by treaty was refused 
to some men of Uri. Angered thereby, the banners of 
Uri, as they returned from mount Ezel, marched straight 
over the St. Gotthard and took possession of Leventina and 
Bellinzona without opposition. The old duke of Milan, 
unprepared for war, was obliged to purchase peace dearly 
by giving up Leventina to Uri. 

In the mean while, duke Frederic of Austria, a grand- 
son of that Leopold who fell near Sempach, had become 
emperor. He had openly said that he meant to take back 
from the Swiss all the property of his ancestors. With this 



92 ZURICH BREADS THE BOND. [14^6- 

object he constantly sounded tlie disposition of the people, 
the nobility and the cities of Aargan. 

This pleased burgomaster Stussi and the council of Zu- 
rich, who were irritated against the Confederates. If Zu- 
rich, the vorort of the Swiss Confederacy, had magnani- 
mously forgotten her own causes of resentment, and, in a 
noble spirit, warned her Confederates of the hostile designs 
of Austria, with what resplendent honor would her virtue 
have shone before all the Confederates and their descend- 
ants ! But Zurich listened only to vengeance, felt only her 
injuries, joined the emperor, secretly concluded a criminal 
alliance, and forgot the Confederates. Great souls were 
wanting. This shameful treaty was made in 1442. 

As soon as this became known, all the Confederates cried 
out against the vorort ; she had broken the perpetual bond. 
They assembled in diet, and summoned Zurich to abandon 
her alliance with Austria. Numerous useless parleyings 
took place. Zurich would not separate from the emperor. 
The latter sent his captain, Thuringof Hallwyl, to the city, 
which solemnly took, upon his hand, the oath to the em- 
pire, and swore to advance the emperor's interests, and to 
avenge any injury done to him. At the captain's request, 
the Zurichers even removed the white crosses, distinctive 
marks of the Confederates in all their former wars, and 
placed in their hats the red crosses which the Austrians 
wore. Others assumed the imperial eagle and the Austrian 
peacock's feather. 

This greatly exasperated the Confederates ; the breasts 
of all the peeple were inflamed with anger. Insults, tres- 
passes, assassinations and incendiarisms prevailed every- 
where. Finally, all. the Confederates declared war against 
Zurich. 



•1443.] BLOOD AND FLAMES. 93 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

WAR OF ALL THE CONFEDERATES AGAINST ZURICH. THE HEROES- 
DEATH NEAR ST. JACQUES. PEACE. 

[A. D. 1443 to 1450.] 

This declaration of war by the Confederates did not 
terrify Zurich : she counted on the emperor's powerful assist- 
ance. Already, in fact, on summons of the emperor, be- 
sides Thuring of Hallwyl, many other knights and warriors, 
and even William, margrave of Baden, had hastened to the 
city's aid. More than five thousand Austrians were there. 

Now began the war of Swiss against Swiss. Near Pfef- 
fikon and Freienbach on the lake of Zurich, the Schwyzers 
fought against double their number of Zurichers ; as did 
Lucerne, Uri and Unterwalden, on the heights of Hirzel, 
against the Zurichers in the fortifications on the mountain. 
The fortifications were stormed and destroyed; this cost 
much noble blood. I cannot enumerate the villas^es re- 
duced to ashes on the lake, in the territories of Zug and 
Schwyz, and in the free bailiwicks. Every day blood red- 
dened the earth ; every night flames reddened the sky. In 
vain did the courageous city of Bremgarten defend herself, 
in behalf of Zurich's share in her government. The fate 
of Bremgarten terrified Baden, which had preferred to re- 
main neutral. She opened her gates to the Confederates. 
Neither the town of Rumlang nor the strong castles of 
Gruningen and Regensberg could withstand the courage 
of the Confederates. 

Finally, the latter, Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, Glarus, 
Zug and Lucerne, about five thousand strong, crossed the 
Albis, Itel Eeding with them, against the city of Zurich 
itself And the citizens and Austrians, on foot and on 
horseback, burgomaster Stussi with them, hastened to meet 
the invaders : all hurried across the Sihl. In the mead- 
ows between the village of Weidikon and the ancient 
chapel of St. James, against each other rushed the blood- 
f-hirsty bands, thousands against thousands, on the 22d 



94 BAEBARITY OF REDING [1443- 

July, 1443. The shock and conflict were frightful. Terror 
seized upon the Zurichers, who fought without order, as 
they had come forth without order. Now they fled in 
confusion over the bridge of the Sihl. There, burgomas- 
ter Stussi, venerable in his white hair and his heroism, 
stopped in the middle of the bridge, brandished his broad 
battle-axe and shouted: "Halt, citizens, halt!'* But a 
man of Zurich cried : " May Grod's lightning blast thee ! 
All this evil comes from thee alone," and ran him through 
with his lance. The burgomaster's armor clattered as he 
fell. Over his dead body enemies and friends rushed into 
the suburb. The citizens closed the inner gates ; all out- 
side was pillaged by the conquerors. The latter hacked 
into pieces the corpse of Stussi, tore his heart with their 
teeth, greased their boots and shoes with the fat of his 
body, and threw his mutilated remains into the Sihl. 
Houses and villages burned around. The flames furnished 
light, while the conquerors sat on the bodies of their slain 
enemies, and caroused together. 

Then the Confederates besieged Eapperswyl, the fortress 
of which was occupied by Austrians ; the Bernese did the 
same with Laufenberg. Both places held strong. But 
the fortress of Greifensee was obliged to yield when as 
saulted. Hans of Breitenlandenberg, surnamed the Sav 
age, had defended it valiantly with a few men for twenty- 
six days. It cost Itel Keding and his Confederates dear 
Therefore they were so exasperated that they demanded 
the death of the Savage and his heroes, when they j^ielded 
at discretion. " All, all must die," shouted the raging sol- 
diery, "and the menof Grriefensee also." Captain Hoi zach, 
of Menzingen on the Zug mountain, cried out : " Confede* 
rates, fear God ! Spare innocent blood ! Stain not the 
honor of the Confederacy !" But Itel Eeding, the landam- 
mann, said : " This man has Austrian sympathies. They 
must all die, excepting the people of Griefensee." The 
sanguinary hordes howled approval. In vain did old men 
and young, fathers and mothers, implore pity. Keding 
gave the signal ; the circle was closed. The executioner 
of Berne entered it with his sword. The Savage died 
courageously. After his, fell many other heads. The ex- 



-1450.J AND HIS CONFEDERATES. 95 

ecutioner stopped and looked at Itel Reding, as if to ask 
for mercy on tlie rest. Then Reding was exasperated, and 
said : " Quick ! To thy work ! If thou dost not thy duty 
another shall do it on thee !" Then fell the heads of Felix 
Ott, of Plans Escher of Zurich, and others. When the fif- 
tieth fell, it was already night. Itel Reding caused straw 
to be brought and kindled. When the sixtieth was dead. 
Reding withdrew from the shuddering crowd. 

After this, the Confederates returned against Zuricli with 
twenty thousand men, and besieged the city for sixty days 
in the summer of 1444. The Zurichers made a valiant re- 
sistance. Sixteen of them, who called themselves the 
Bucks, formed a military association, and did much, dam- 
age to the Confederates by a partisan warfare. 

The Austrian nobility of Aargau were also active in be- 
half of Zurich. Thomas of Falkenstein, landgrave in 
Buchsgau and Sisgau, in order to injure the Bernese, sent 
tWo of his people to set fire to the city of Aarau in the 
aight. When this had failed, he rode with the lords of 
Baldegg through the city of Brugg, and said : " We have 
come from the, camp of Zurich, and are going to Bale to 
request the assistance of the lord-bishop in restoring peace." 
On the second night afterwards, he reappeared at the city- 
gates and said : " We bring peace. Here is the lord of 
Bale. Open to us." And he showed two of his servants 
in the colors of Bale, at his side. When the watchmen, 
deceived, opened the city-gates, Falkenstein entered with 
four hundred horsemen, plundered the city, seized and im- 
prisoned the avoyer Effinger, the lords of the council 
and the principal citizens. He meant to have them all 
beheaded at break of day. But the news of his deed had 
already spread through the country. The peasants rose 
on all sides. Falkenstein set fire to the city and carried 
off the prisoners. They were to be beheaded in the oak- 
forest not far from Brugg. But when John of Rechberg, 
one of his accomplices, begged for their lives, the prisoners 
were taken to Laufenberg and secretly confined in the 
tower on the rock over the river, so that no one knew 
where they where. But Burgi Kuffier let himself down 
from the tower by a rope of bed-clothes, leaped into the 



96 LOUIS THE DAUPHIN. [1443-" 

whirlpool of the Ehine, escaped and made all known. Then 
the wives of Bragg ransomed their husbands from the en- 
emy's power with much gold. The Solothurners and Ber- 
nese, in revenge, destroyed Falkenstein's castle of Gosgen ; 
they burnt Farnsburg also and other places. 

In the mean while, Zurich, besieged, was in distress. 
The emperor, engaged in a distant war, could not help 
her. He called on the king of France for assistance against 
tlie Swiss. The king of France, at this time, had his land 
full of disorderly foreign troops ; among them were many 
Englisli and otner people, who had fought against him 
under the count of Armagnac, until they were conquered. 
The king collected all these, gave them leaders, and, under 
the command of his own heir, the dauphin Louis, sent 
thirty thousand Armagnacs against the Confederates, to 
the aid of Zurich. They marched to the neighborhood of 
Bale, where the Solothurners, with troops from Berne, 
Lucerne and Bale, were besieging the high fortress of 
Farnsburg. These immediately sent messengers to the 
camp before Zurich, asking for assistance from the Confed- 
erates, because the Armagnacs were so numerous. " They 
are only miserable wretches !" said those before Zurich, and 
contented themselves with sending six hundred men to re- 
inforce the besiegers of Farnsburg. 

As soon as it was known that the foreign enemy was al- 
ready encamped in the fields near Munchenstein, not far 
from Bak, nine hundred of those before Farnsburg and 
the newly-arrived six hundred marched towards them. 
On the 26th of August, 1444, in the early morning, they 
found several thousand Armagnacs before the village of 
Frattelen, drove them, in a bloody fight, back into their 
entrenchments near Muttenz, and out of their entrench- 
ments into tlie waves of the neighboring Birs. 

From the towers of their city, the burghers of Bale saw 
the little troop of Swiss advance against the superior forces 
of the enemy. Three thousand Balese came out to per- 
suade the Swiss to take refuge in the city ; but they could 
not succeed. The Confederates crossed the Birs by swim- 
ming, and reached the opposite bank in spite of the terri- 
ble discharges of the eueniy, whose whole force was there 



-1460] ARNOLD SCHIK. 97 

drawn up. Like destroying angels they penetrated tliose 
numberless hordes. They were soon separated, bat still 
fought, five hundred in an open plain, the rest behind the 
garden-wall of the hospital near St. Jacques. Terribly, 
like lions, fought those of the plain, until, man by man, 
they fell dead upon the dead bodies of numerous enemies ; 
terribly, like lions, fought those behind the wall ; thrice 
they repelled the assault ; twice they themselves made the 
attack ; the wall fell, hospital and chapel were burned. 
All the Confederates here died heroically. Ninety and 
nine were found suffocated in the cellar vaults. But thou- 
sands and thousands of the enemy, with their horses, cov- 
ered the ground from Prattelen to St. Jacques. 

When, at the end of this ten hours' battle, knight Burk- 
hard Munch, lord of Auenstein and Landskrone, an enemy 
of the Confederates, with other knights, rode over the bat- 
tle-field and over the bodies of the Swiss, he said, joyfully : 
" Now I am bathing in roses." Then cried captain Arnold 
Schik of Uri, rising from under the dead : " Swallow this 
rose!" and shattered Burkhard's forehead with a deadly 
stone. 

Fifteen hundred Confederates fell with immortal glory 
at St. Jacques. Only ten men saved their lives by flight. 
They were despised and proscribed throughout all Switzer- 
land, because they had not shared the glorious courage and 
the glorious death of the heroes, as Swiss should. 

Louis, the dauphin, stopped there, upon the field of the 
dead, and dared not advance farther. He was informed 
that the Confederates had left the walls of Zurich to mar^u 
against him with their whole force. " Upon my honor, a 
more obstinate people cannot be found !" cried he; ''I will 
attempt no more against them." And, full of respect for 
their great courage, he concluded peace with them at En- 
sisheim. 

But the internal war against Zurich, Austria and her 
nobility still continued. Bale now courageously and 
openly joined the Confederates, aided them in the field, 
and drove out from her walls all the nobles who had 
given advice and assistance to the Armagnacs. Her troops 
marched with the Bernese and Solothurners to Kheinfel- 
5 I 



98 JOHN OF EECHBERG. [l445- 

den This city was devoted to the Confederates ; but in 
the fortress on the rock in the Rhine lay John of Fal ken- 
stein, Hallwyl, and many nobles and Austrians. These 
fled in the night ; the fortress was destroyed. Rapperswyl 
had also to undergo a new siege ; the city was strong. John 
of Rechberg and the Zurichers assisted it vigorously. But 
these were completely defeated by the Schwyzers and Lu- 
cerners, near Wollrau, on a clear winter's night (16 De- 
cember, 1445). Still more bloody, in the following year 
(6 March, 1446), was the defeat of the Austrians, when, six 
thousand strong, John Eechberg the heroic warrior being 
with them, they tried to enter Switzerland near Ragaz. 
Eleven hundred Confederates, of all the cantons, obtained 
this decisive victory, of which peace was the result. 

The emperor, engaged in other matters, hated this war, 
from which he derived no glory. Zurich and the Confed- 
erates, since Stussi had fallen and Itel Reding was also 
dead, drew together of their own accord. There were still 
some fighting and burning here and there, but negotiations 
proceeded actively, until finally, on the 13th of July, 1450_ 
the decisive arbitration was pronounced by the avoye) 
Henry of Bubenberg: '' Zurich shall renounce her alii 
ance with Austria, and shall reenter into possession of all 
the territory taken from her by the Confederates, with the 
exception of the strip of land she had previously lost oh 
the upper lake.""^ All parties agreed to leave Toggenburg 
to a relative of the deceased count, the baron of Raron, 
who shortly afterwards (1469) sold it to the abbot of St. 
vrallen. 

♦ This now forms part of the canton of Schwyz, 



-U50.] WILLIAM OF GRUNENBERG. 99 



CHAPTER XXY. 

RHEINFELDEN IS DEVASTATED. FREIBURG FALLS INTO THE POWER 
OF SAVOY. THURGAU BECOMES A COMMON BAILIWICK OF THE 
CONFEDERACY. 

[A. D. 1450 to 146S.] 

While the Confederates were still negotiating peace, 
an unheard-of trespass occurred. The imperial-city of 
Rheinfelden, devoted to the Swiss, and formerly mort- 
gaged to Austria but afterwards restored to the empire, 
was under the protection of Bale, Berne and Solothurn. 
Each of these places had only a guard to represent her in 
the city. No one feared any evil. But knight William 
of Grunenberg, to whom Austria had transferred her mort- 
gage-rights over Rheinfelden, as a compensation for his 
destroyed castle, desired possession of the city. He em- 
ployed John of Rechberg to take it by surprise. Thomas 
of Falkenstein, the incendiary of Aarau, and author of the 
nocturnal massacre of Brugg, was also persuaded to second 
the enterprise. 

One morning (in November, 1448), during divine ser- 
vice, there arrived at Rheinfelden a wood-laden boat, which 
had come down the Rhine ; some men in long grey frocks, 
who were on board, said that they were returning from a 
pilgrimage to the gracious Mother of God at Einsiedeln, 
and wished to stop there for dinner. But, as soon as they 
were under the gate, they suddenly threw off the frocks 
which concealed their armor, and killed the guards and 
toll-gatherers ; one hundred and twenty armed men came 
from beneath the boat-load of wood, and carried carnage 
into the city ; on the land-side, through the opposite gate, 
which they broke in, came Grunenberg and six hundred, 
who had been in ambush. They massacred those whom 
they found in the streets, pillaged the houses and com- 
mitted all kinds of excesses ; drove out men, women and 
children, who, stripped of every thing, found their way to 
Bale, where they were compassionately received and 
lodged in the hospital and inns. 



/ 

100 THUKING OF HALLWYL. [l4«0-/ 

The Balese did still more. Animated by vengeance, 
tliey issued from their gates in strong force, entirely routed 
Rechberg and Falkenstein near Hesingen, and burned 
many castles of the robber-nobles. But when, shortly 
afterwards, by the treaty of peace, Rheinfelden was re- 
stored to the house of Austria, and the nobles were com- 
pelled to evacuate the city, these robbers carried off all the 
household furniture, destroyed windows, doors and stoves, 
and left nothing but the bare walls. 

A great part of Switzerland was desolated by so long a 
war. Commerce and the trades languished in the cities, 
agriculture in the country. This insensate war had cost 
the Zurichers 1,070,000 guilders. They called in all the 
money they had lent. As emperor Sigismund had mort- 
gaged to them the county of Kyburg and could not re- 
deem it, Austria gave up the fee of that countr}^, in lieu 
of payment. 

The animosity between Berne and Freiburg was embit- 
tered by the war, because Freiburg had always held with 
Austria against Berne and the Confederates. Freiburg, 
having passed from the dukes of Zahringen, its founders, 
to the heirs of Kyburg, was afterwards sold by the latter 
to the house of Austria. Therefore it was devoted to 
Austria. And therefore Berne had assisted the duke of 
Savoy in the many disputes and war between him and 
Freiburg. 

After peace was reestablished, Austria recompensed the 
people of Freiburg but poorly for their fidelity : she 
treated them harshly; arbitrarily deposed their avoyer 
and council, refused to refund the money advanced, and 
gave command of the city to marshal Ttiuring of Hall- 
wyl, with unlimited authority. This alienated the hearts 
of the citizens. Conspiracies and disturbances took place ; 
the people thought to shake off the Austrian yoke. Berne 
hoped to profit by these circumstances, and to remove the 
formidable influence of Austria from her neighborhood. 
Then came the duke of Savoy and demanded from Frei- 
burg 200,000 guilders, which she owed him. Affairs were 
in such a bad state, that Austria herself saw she could no 
longer hold Freiburg ; she negotiated with Savoy, and soon 



-HG8.] EFFECTS OF WAR. 101 

came to an agreement. Thereon Austria ordered the mar- 
shal of Hallvvyl to leave Freiburg. But he told the coun- 
cil-lords that duke Albert himself was coming to the city, 
that preparations should be made for a solemn reception, 
and the citizens send to him all their silver-plate, in order 
that he might welcome the duke with becoming splendor. 
When he received the silver, he had it packed up and sent 
off secretly. Then he rode forth, pretending to go to meet 
the duke. The avoyer and many council-lords accom- 
panied him and his knights. When at a league's distance 
from the city, he turned, handed to the avoyer the docu- 
ment by which duke Albert renounced his rights over the 
city, and said: "Your silver-ware is the price of your 
freedom. Fare you well!" Hallwyl spurred onwards, 
and the men of Freiburg returned astonished home. 

Then fresh disorders and agitations took place. The 
country -people were against the city. The city, moreover, 
feared to fall under the dominion of Berne. The duke of 
Savoy rigidly exacted the payment of the debt. This 
threw the council of Freiburg into great distress, and they 
surrendered to the sovereignty and protection of the duke 
of Savoy. On the 10th of June, 1452, in the cathedral-church 
of St. Nicholas, the avoyer, the council, the sixty, the ban- 
nerets, the two hundred and all the commons of the city 
took the oath of fealty to the duke of Savoy, who, in re- 
turn, confirmed the ancient franchises of the city and dis- 
trict. 

In the mean while, notwithstanding the peace, the rest 
of Switzerland was far from quiet. The continual wars 
had made the hearts of the people savage. The common 
men preferred to fight and plunder, rather than to plough 
the earth, herd cattle, or exercise a trade. When their 
own country was at peace, the sound of the drum drew 
them abroad. One came and enlisted soldiers for the Ger 
man, another for the French wars. The lords and rulers 
sought to gain glory and money and reputation with the 
princes, because they imagined themselves to be prince? 
over their own subjects. 

When the king of France perceived this disposition, he 
testified much friendship towards the Confederates, made 

I* 



102 FIRST CAPITULATIONS. [I4i0- 



a neighborly compact with them (1453), and manyliun- 
dreds of valiant Swiss went to join liis armies. With the 
same views, the duke of Milan ceded the Leventina to Uri 
in perpetuity, and made a treaty or capitulation (1467) 
with the Confederates, respecting the passage of travellers, 
the freedom of trade, tolls and different jurisdictions. 
These were the first treaties of the Confederates with those 
neighbors, whose fields they were afterwards, for vile hire, 
to water with so much precious blood. 

But other contests were not wanting. When the city 
of Strassburg complained to the Zurichers that the robber- 
count of Thengen had plundered the merchants of Strass- 
burg, the banners of Zurich were quickly displayed to 
avenge her friends. The castles of the robber fell. Zurich 
took Eglisau and Rheinau, and held Eglisau and the con- 
vent of Rheinau under Swiss protection, in payment of her 
costs (1457). Strassburg invited the stout, valiant young 
men of Zurich to a festival, in celebration of their victory 
and friendship. The young men descended the Limmat, 
the Aar and the Rhine, in boats, to Strassburg. They 
started in the early morning, and took with them boiling 
millet-porridge and hot rolls, well covered. In the even- 
ing, landing at Strassburg, they presented the porridge 
and the rolls, siill warm, at the joyous festival, to show- 
how quickly friends can reach friends. 

On the following year, a shooting-match at Constance 
had an unfortunate result. There a citizen of Constance 
refused to receive a Bernese plappart (twenty-nine plap- 
parts make a guilder) from a man of Lucerne, and con- 
temptuously called the Swiss money cow-plapparts. Piqued 
at this, all the Swiss left the fete. They soon returned 
in rage, four thousand men from all the cantons, and rav- 
aged the territory of Constance in Thurgau. Constance 
was compelled to purchase peace with a large sum. This 
was called the plappart- war. 

As the Confederates were returning home from Con- 
stance, three hundred of them, men of Uri, Schwyz and 
Unterwalden, requested passage and a night's lodging from 
the city of Rapperswyl. The wearied men were received 
with friendly hospitality. The citizens of Rapperswyl, 



-U68.J MUHLHAUSEN. 103 

although faithful servants to the dukes of Austria, con- 
stantly suffered much maltreatment from them. There- 
fore the citizens were well disposed towards the Confede- 
rates, treated them most hospitably, and, on that same 
night, Kapperswyl and the Confederates concluded an ever- 
lasting friendship ; and, without reference to Austria, Eap- 
perswyl entered into a defensive compact w4th the three 
Waldstatten (1458), and afterwards (1464) with Glarus 
also. 

When arch -duke Sigismund heard this, he was much 
angered. But he was fully occupied with more serious 
troubles, which left him no time for the Confederates. The 
pope of Eome, himself, had a quarrel with the duke, ex- 
communicated him and called upon the Swiss to take pos- 
session of the remaining Austrian territory in Helvetia. 
They, knowing very well that not only the pope, but also 
the emperor, was opposed to the grand-duke, were, except- 
ing Berne, soon under arms, and invaded Thurgau, which 
was obliged to swear fealty to the seven cantons of the 
Confederacy, reserving its rights and tribunals. Diessen- 
hofen in vain defended herself valiantly for Austria. All 
the country-people were for the Swiss. From this time 
the Confederates (Appenzell and Berne excepted) retained 
the rights which Austria Had possessed over Thurgau. 

Berne and Schaflfhausen were, however, associated in 
the protectorate over Diessenhofen. The duke, seeing that 
all was lost, sold the city of Winterthur also to the Zu- 
richers. Thus broad, beautiful Thurgau became a Swiss 
domain in 1460. 

At the same period, Muhlhausen, an imperial-city in 
Alsace, was much distressed by the inimical robber-nobles 
in her vicinity, and could no longer resist them. A mas- 
ter-joiner had cut off six plapparts from his servant's wages ; 
the servant implored the protection of a noble ; the noble 
picked a quarrel with the city. Hence a feud and war. 
Then Muhlhausen asked assistance from the Confederates. 
The latter, friendly to the city, showed themselves ready 
to sustain her. But the nobles secured tke aid of duke 
Sigismund of Austria. After long parleyings without re- 
sult, the flames of war spread afresh from Schaffhausen to 




104 CESSION- OF THURaAtJ. 

Waldshut and Muhlhauscn. Many castles and yillages 
were destroyed, many men slain. The Confederates, con- 
querors everywhere, at last laid siege to Waldshut. Berne 
wished to take this city by assault, and to make of it a 
fortress of the Confederates against Germany, The rest 
had no such far-reaching views. Berne, with regret, was 
silent on seeing her Confederates accept a treaty of peace 
on conditions of reimbursement of their war -expenses. In 
vain said the Bernese soldiers : " We did not take up arms 
that we might carry home gold, but that we might conquer 
cities and castles." A peace was concluded at Waldshut, 
by which Muhlhausen and Schaffhausen were secured 
against Austria and the nobility. This was in 1468, in 
which year also, duke Sigismund made to the Confede- 
rates a solemn cession of his rights over Thurgau. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

UNION OF THE THREE LEAGUES IN RHETIA. DISCORD IN BERNE. 
COMMENCEMENT OF THE BURGUNDIAN WAR. 

[A. D. 1469 to 1476.] 

The Grisons in the Rhetian highlands had taken no part 
in the wars and disturbances which desolated Switzerland, 
sometimes even for a plappart. They lived then in the 
first innocent love of liberty and of the everlasting rights 
which belong to all men. They resembled the Confede- 
rates of the earlier times, who sought the noble jewel free- 
dom, not for themselves alone, but for others also ; they 
asked only for independence from the tyranny and caprices 
of great lords^ but desired no subjects or slaves. Many 
valleys in the Upper and God's-house leagues had fi'eed 
themselves from tribute and service by heavy payments, 
never by force and revolt. But when the great lords, re- 
gardless of the purchased rights, tried to impose the yoke 
anew upon men lawfully free, then the people rose, with 
arms in their hands, and with the force of enraged lions, 



-HlQ.] THE GRISON REPUBLIC. 105 

against the enemies of their rights and happiness, and tri 
umphed, as did the first Confederates. Many haughty no- 
bles, who had sworn to a "black league" against the 
descendants of John Chaldar (1450), lie slain and buried 
in Schamserthal. 

To strengthen their hands against the attacks of their 
enemies and to preserve concord among themselves, depu- 
ties from all the communes and all the jurisdictions of the 
three leagues assembled in the little village of Yazerol, in 
the centre of the country (1471). There they swore, in 
the name of the three leagues, to remain always bound to- 
gether for their rights in danger and in death ; to stand as 
a single state against foreigners ; to discuss their common 
affairs and decide their differences every year in general 
diet. The Diet was to be held alternately at Coire in the 
God's-house league, at Ilanz in the Upper league, and at 
Davos in the league of the Ten Jurisdictions. The depu- 
ties to the Diet were not, however, to have ultimate legis- 
lative authority, but only the right of initiative : the adop- 
tion or rejection of what they might propose belonging to 
the sovereign-people in their communes. In any dispute 
between two leagues, the third was to be arbitrator ; what- 
ever two leagues agreed upon, was obligatory on the third. 
So with their organization : each commune had its own 
laws and its own ammann ; several communes united had 
their landammann and their low and high tribunal or ju- 
risdiction ; hence such a union of communes was called a 
high jurisdiction ; several high jurisdictions formed a 
league, and the three leagues composed the republic of 
Ehetia. The people themselves elected and installed their 
magistrates, and chose therefor the most estimable persons, 
in whom they had confidence. 

While union was thus strengthening the people in the 
Grison country, discord and the arrogance of great power 
brought the commonwealth of the city of Berne into much 
danger. This city, first built on free soil by the dukes of 
Zahringen, and peopled by free burghers and industrious 
mechanics, counted also among her citizens the signiors 
possessing jurisdiction in her neighborhood ; so that the 
city protected the rights of these signiors over their respec* 
5* 



106 PETER KISTLER. [1460~ 

tive territories, and the signiors, on their side, helped the 
city as good burghers. Many members of these noble 
families sat in the city-council, and at all times made them- 
selves useful to the commonwealth by their wisdom, their 
courage and their riches. They had especially assisted the 
city to increase the number of her subjects by purchase or 
conquest, and to obtain great influence in the Confederacy. 
The common citizens, nevertheless, considered themselves 
the equals of the noble signioral families, but the latter 
looked with contempt upon the farriers, the butchers, the 
bakers and other respectable mechanics, and prided them- 
selves on their noble birth and the long series of their an- 
cestors. This angered the citizens and caused them to seize 
every opportunity to humble the pride of the nobles. 

Such an opportunity was presented at this period when 
great dissension took place in tha council of Berne, in con- 
sequence of a constable of the signio'ry of Worb having 
exceeded his authority. On the appeal of the condemned 
constable to the council, two parties were formed : that of 
the signiors, who were leagued together for the mainte- 
nance of their guaranteed prerogatives and demanded a 
sentence accordingly, and that of the other members of the 
council, having at their head Peter Kistler, by trade a 
butcher. The signiors were deprived of their prerogatives. 
Thereupon they all left the city, with their wives and 
families, and retired to their hereditary estates in the coun- 
try. And when Peter Kistler was afterwards elected 
avoyer of Berne (1470), he took pleasure in bringing the 
nobles to an equality with the common citizens. The 
avoyer, councils and burghers of Berne published a severe 
moral and sumptuary law. When the wives and daughters 
of the nobles learnt that they must give up the long trains 
of their dresses, they broke forth into complaints, and per- 
suaded their husbands and fathers not to obey, for the long 
train was the distinguishing mark of nobility. Hence new 
troubles arose, so that the Confederacy became anxious and 
desired to mediate. This determined the council of Berne 
to put an end to the dispute. They first caused the sump- 
tuary law to be executed, and then banished the nobility, 
who submitted. But shortly afterwards (8 April and 17 



-1476.] CHARLES THE BOLD. 107 

May, 1741), milder laws were adopted and better observed. 
Thus quiet was once more restored to the Bernese. 

Never had internal peace been more necessary. The 
days had come in which the whole Confederacy required 
more harmony and vigor than ever before, in order not to 
become the prey of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy 
This was a proud prince, loving glory and dominion, but 
impetuous, passionate against all who opposed him. His 
territory extended from the Swiss frontier, across the Jura 
and the Ehine, between the Rhine and France, as far as the 
North sea. He had driven out duke Rene of Lorraine, 
and even terrified king Louis XL of France, in Paris, with 
his arms. The latter therefore hated bold Charles of Bur- 
gundy, and constantly excited fresh enemies against him 
The king applied, Avith many flatteries, to the Swiss, whose 
formidable valor he had become acquainted with, when yet 
dauphin, on the field of St. Jacques. He spared neither 
presents nor gold chains for the council-lords in the Swiss 
cities, to persuade them to help him against the duke. 
The ejected Rene of Lorraine also earnestly implored their 
assistance, and the emperor of Grcrmany himself incited 
them against Burgundy. They had really no cause of 
complaint against the duke, except that his bailiff, Peter of 
Ilagenbach, had shown himself remiss in protecting Swiss 
merchants, when, on their journeys through Burgundy, 
they were maltreated by his people. However, they did not 
long resist the entreaties and presents of king Louis, espe- 
cially as the warlike youth of the Swiss cities thirsted for 
new exploits. Austria, Lorraine, and other sovereignties 
of German soil had also united against Burgundy. 

Thus the Confederates made a compact with France 
(1474), and, with eight thousand men, invaded Upper Bur- 
gundy, pillaging and burning ; while the Lorrainers and 
Austrians did the same, with ten thousand. Bale, Freiburg, 
Schaflfhausen and St. Gallen also sent troops with the Con- 
federates. They all behaved barbarously, and bore with 
a heavy hand upon the counts and lords in Yaud who 
were in favor of Burgundy, and upon the duke of Savoy, 
who held with Charles the Bold. The Bernese and Frei- 
burgers took Morat, which was obliged, to swear allegiance 



108 LOUIS XL [1476- 

to them. The banners of the Confederates floated victo- 
rious far along lake Leman. Many Savoyard and Bur- 
gundian castles fell in flames, on the right and left. A 
garrison was placed in the castle of Grrandson, on the lake 
of Neuchatel. The Valaisians also joined them against 
the great power of Savoy. 

Now when the Swiss were fully engaged in this war for 
the French king and the German emperor, they were sud- 
denly and perfidiously deserted by both. First, the em- 
peror made peace with the duke of Burgundy; then, 
twelve weeks afterwards (1475), the king of France con- 
cluded a truce with him for several years. He had pro- 
mised the Swiss to stand with them against the duke; now, 
he even granted to the latter a free passage across his 
territory against the Confederates. For Charles the Bold 
was most irritated against the Confederates, and wished to 
humble them and avenge himself He had an only daughter, 
sole heiress to all his domains ; with her and his riches he 
dazzled both the king and the emperor. He flattered the 
one and the other with the expectation that he would be- 
stow his heiress upon the son of each. He intended noth- 
ing less. 

His hands being thas freed, he raised powerful forces in 
his own country, in France and Italy. The betrayed Con- 
federates were terrified, and sent two embassadors to him, 
to offer peace, an exclusive alliance and every satisfaction. 
But he haughtily rejected their proposals, and marched 
from Besan9on over the Jura against Grandson with sixty 
thousand men, to sacrifice the Swiss to his vengeance. 
This was in March, 1476. 



CHAPTER XXVn. 

RESULT OF THE BURGUNDIAN WAR. FREIBURG BECOMES FREE. 

[A. D. 1476 to 1477.] 

When duke Charles of Burgundy had passed the Jura, 
he found the city of Yverdun already in possession of his 



-1477.] GRANt)SON A^ft) MoftAt. 109 

people, by the aid of treacherous citizens ; in the castle 
alone a weak troop of Bernese still resisted his whole force. 
And when he appeared before Grandson, the little garrison 
intrepidly withstood his rage, and was not intimidated; 
although the castle was assaulted day and night. Irritated 
at having been uselessly detained for ten days before this 
miserable place, he ordered a general attack, and threat- 
ened to hang all the Swiss if they resisted any longer. 
This shook the courage of many, especially of the cowardly 
captain, John Wyler. Thereupon came to them, from the 
enemy's camp, a Burgundian noble, who spoke German, 
praised their courage, said that the duke respected it, and, 
in the name of the prince, promised them a free retreat if 
they would desist from their fruitless resistance. They 
allowed themselves to be persuaded, and after having pre- 
sented a hundred guilders to the Burgundian, in gratitude 
for his mediation, left the castle without mistrust. But 
the duke caused them to be seized and hung naked on the 
trees, by hundreds ; others were cruelly dragged about in 
the water with ropes, until they were drowned. 

In the mean while, the Confederates, twenty thousand 
strong, hurried towards Grandson, without fear of the 
duke's army, thrice their numbers. In the dawn of the 
8d of March, 1476, the soldiers of Lucerne, Schwyz and 
Bernese Oberland, the vanguard, showed themselves among 
the vineyards between the lake of Neuchatel and the Jura 
mountains. After having made their prayer, they com- 
menced the attack. With firm step, Freiburg and Berne, 
also, pressed forward, led by the experienced warrior, John 
of Ilallwyl, and the Bernese avoyer, Nicholas of Schar- 
nachtal. And when this vanguard had already, for several 
hours, maintained a severe combat on the bloody field, 
then, first, the main body of the advancing Confederates 
appeared upon the heights, in the bright rays of the noon- 
day sun. From the tops of the hills resounded the spirit- 
stirring notes of the horn of Unterwalden, and the gloomy 
bellowing of the bull of Uri."^ There, also, waved the 
banners of Zurich and Schafi'hausen. " What people are 

* A hora which imitates the voice of this auimal. 

K 



no ADRIAK OF BUBE^^1^3!lia. [U76- 

those ?" cried the duke. " Those are the men before whom 
Austria fled !" replied the lord of Stein. " Alas !" said the 
duke, " a handful of these men have harassed us the whole 
day; what will become of us when they come in such 
numbers!" And terror seized upon his troops, when the 
bloody work commenced anew. In vain did the duke 
throw himself before the flyers. lie could not stop them ; 
they carried him away with them. The eager Swiss pur- 
sued even into the dark night. But when the men of 
Berne and Freiburg saw the bodies hanging on the trees 
before Grandson, furiously they stormed the castle. The 
Burgundian soldiers tremblingly surrendered. But they 
were all hung without pity in the place of the dead Swiss, 
whose bodies their friends carried away. 

Bold Charles had lost a thousand men and his magnifi- 
cent camp equipage, valued at more than a million of 
guilders. Even his ducal robes, ornamented with pearls, 
diamonds, rubies and other precious stones, fell into the 
hands of the Confederates. A Swiss found upon the high- 
way a diamond, large as half a nut. He sold this brilliant 
stone, the value of which he did not know and which he 
was about to throw away, to a priest for three francs. 
Afterwards, it passed through many hands, until it finally 
reached the triple crown of the pope at the price of 20,000 
ducats. Another diamond, also found in the camp, through 
successive purchases and sales, went to ornament the royal 
crown of France. So valuable was the booty. 

Soon, unexpectedly, Charles returned with fresh forces, 
by Lausanne, into Switzerland. He mustered his large 
army near Lausanne-^in April ; then he marched to the 
shores of the lake of Neuchatel, and thence against Morat 
(Murten). Here Adrian of Bubenberg, with six hundred 
braves and the men of the city, maintained a better defence 
than had formerly been made at Grrandson. While the 
duke was detained here, the Confederates and their friends 
assembled their troops. Morat was already in danger ; 
the ramparts and tower were breached. The wall was 
shaken, but not the courage of Adrian of Bubenberg and 
his Swiss. 

He remained firm, until the Confederates arrived from 



-1477.] JOHN OF HALLWYL. Ill 

all sides, with their allies of Bienne, the Alsace cities, 
Bale, St. Gallen and SchafFhausen. These came first. 
After them, in the bad weather, over the bad roads, hur- 
ried the men of Zurich, Thurgau, Aargau and Sargans. 
John Waldmann, the leader of the Zurichers, allowed his 
tired people only a few hours' rest at Berne, on the even- 
ing before the battle ; then gave the signal for marching 
at ten o'clock at night. The whole city was illuminated ; 
before every house stood tables with refreshments for the 
soldiers. In the darkness, through storm and rain, the 
main body of the troops marched towards Morat. 

The day of battle dawned. The sky was covered with 
clouds. Rain fell in streams. Then the Burgundians de- 
ployed their immense array before the eyes of the Confed- 
erates. But the Confederates were barely thirty-four thou- 
sand men. John of Hallwyl, before he gave the signal for 
attack, knelt down wkh his army. And, while they prayed, 
the sun broke brightly through the clouds. At once, John 
of Hallwyl waved his sword and cried : " Up ! up ! Con- 
federates! See! God will shine upon our victory !" He 
said. It was the 22d of June. Then thundered the shock 
of arms; then the smiting and fighting spread from the 
lake to the heights. On the left fought Hallwyl ; on the 
right, by the lake, the strength of the Swiss army, under 
John Waldmann; among the trees on the shore, Buben- 
berg. Hallwyl had a hard fight; but he maintained it 
until Caspar of Hertenstein, the white-haired general of 
Lucerne, appeared on the heights behind the enemy. Hall- 
wyl had sent him thither through by-paths. Now death 
penetrated the ranks of the Burgundians, in front and rear. 
Thousands fought, thousands fell, thousands fled. The 
duke saw that all was lost; leaped upon his fleet horse, 
and, pale and gloomy, with barely thirty knights, escaped 
to the lake of Geneva. Fifteen thousand of his people lay 
slain between the lake of Morat and Avenches. Many, 
seeking for safety, perished in the water and in the swamps 
of the lake-shore. The rest were dispersed ; all the ene- 
my's tents, provisions and treasures became the booty of 
the victors. The dead bodies were buried in trenches vnih 
quicklime and covered with earth. Some years afterwards 



112 JOHN WALDMANN. [1476- 

the people of Morat bailt an ossuary which they filled with 
Burgundian bones and skulls, to show foreigners how for- 
midable the Confederates are when united. 

Then duke Rene of Lorraine, whom Charles had for- 
merly driven from his country, could triumph. He made 
active war against his humbled enemy, and re- took the city 
of Nancy. He also requested a reinforcement of six thou- 
sand men from the Swiss; they sent eight thousand, under 
command of John Waldmann, the victorious hero of Mo- 
rat. When they joined Eene's army, Charles the Bold 
also reappeared with fresh forces, and vigorously attacked 
Nancy. Thereat Rene hastened with his own troops and 
the Swiss, to save the hard-pressed city. A battle imme- 
diately took place near Nancy, on the 5th of January, 
1477. But Charles's army was discouraged. The com- 
mander of his vanguard, count Cola Campobasso, instead 
of attacking, treacherously passed over to Rene. Rene's 
army was stronger in numbers and in courage than that of 
Cliarles. The latter was therefore vanquished and fled ; 
falling with his horse, on a slightly-frozen marsh, he 
was slain by his pursuers. Five hundred of his nobles 
and knights lay around him ; the bodies of thousands of 
his soldiers covered the battle-field. Thus died the formi- 
dable enemy of the Confederates. 

Then Charles's enemies took possession of his country. 
But the states of Upper Burgundy sent to the Confeder- 
ates and asked for peace, and even to be admitted into 
their bond. Berne, politic and magnanimous, was in favor 
of this admission. " The Jura and the Yosges will be a 
strong rampart for us Confederates against France," said 
they. But the others, especially the small cantons, were 
opposed. They feared that such an extension of the bond 
would draw them into many foreign wars, or that they 
would themselves become insignificant from the larger size 
of so many other cantons. Therefore the Burgundians 
were compelled to purchase peace from the Confederates 
for 150,000 guilders. But duke Maximilian of Austria ob- 
tained Upper Burgundy with the hand of Maria, daughter 
of Charles the Bold. And Austria made with Zurich, 
BexnOf Lucerne^ Uri and Solothurn, ^ treaty for mutual de- 



-uii] THE Joroijs Band. 113 

fence and perpetual peace, in whicli Unterwalden, Schwyz, 
Zug and Grlarus shortly after joined. By this treaty Aus- 
tria renounced her pretensions to every thing that the Con- 
federates had taken from the house of Habsburg, and both 
parties promised mutual assistance in case of need. 

A treaty was also made with the king of France, and he 
was permitted to enlist soldiers for his army from among 
the Swiss. For this purpose he lavished much money, 
many presents and pensions in Switzerland. Then the 
bailiffs, patricians and council-lords enrolled valiant sol- 
diers for the king ; were enriched, as captains and officers, 
by his gifts and pay ; and, for the sake of these, watered 
foreign soils with noble Swiss blood. 

But, at this time, there were in the country many idlers, 
who, in war, had lost all taste for labor, for a regular and 
honest life, and preferred to live by fighting and plunder- 
ing. Many went, at their own cost and risk, to seek for- 
tune in foreign wars, and these emigrations were endless. 
Many others lived a disorderly life by plunder in their own 
country. Others committed still other excesses. At Zug, 
in carnival time, some, over their play and wine, talked of 
the unequal distribution of the Burgundian booty, and 
said that the great families of Berne and Freiburg had ap- 
propriated much the larger share. They formed a league 
under oath in order to bring these latter to account, and 
called themselves 'Hhe band of joyous life." Noisily and 
jovially, all armed, they passed through the cities and can- 
tons of Switzerland, their numbers constantly increasing 
with wild young men, on their way to demand from Geneva 
an unpaid contribution for the expenses of the Burgundian 
war. They did no harm to any one, and paid for whatever 
they used. At Berne they were seven hundred, at Frei- 
burg two thousand strong. This disorder excited great 
fear. The authorities exhorted their subjects to take no 
part in any illegal arming. Diets were held. The young 
men of the joyous band were appeased by friendly words, 
but could not be persuaded to return peacefully to their 
homes until Greneva and Lausanne had paid up their ar- 
rears. Then they dispersed. 

At the same time, Berne made a peace and compact vrith 

K* 



114 MILITARY P-Rtt)^. [1478- 

Savoy, restored Yaucl, which she had received on mort- 
gage, and kept only Aelen (Aigle) ; on the other hand she 
obtained that Freiburg should be declared independent of 
Savoy, as a free city of the Eoman empire (23d August, 
1477). For Berne did not like to have a Savoj^ard garri- 
son so near her. Freiburg, as the price of her liberty, as- 
sumed a large portion of the Savoyard debt. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

THE GLORIOUS DAY OF GIORNICO. NICHOLAS VON DER FLUE. FREI 
BURG AND SOLOTHURN IN THE SWISS CONFEDERACY. DEATH OP 
JOHN WALDMANN AT ZURICH. 

[A. D. 1478 to 1489.] 

In the valleys and in the mountains, in the cities and in 
the country-communes of Switzerland, the people were full 
of military pride. Since the duke of Burgundy had lost 
his treasure in one battle, his army in a second, his life in 
a third, the Swiss feared no man more. Hence wars with- 
out end. 

One day some subjects of Milan cut a parcel of wood in 
a forest of Leventina. At once some young men of Uri 
passed the St. Gotthard, and, in revenge, robbed and mal- 
treated the subjects of Milan in the neighboiing villages. 
Uri, instead of punishing these young men, took them 
under her protection, declared war against the Milanese, 
and called on the Confederates for assistance. The Con- 
federates saw the injustice of Uri, and wished to mediate, 
but not to desert those of Uri in their danger. Therefore 
they immediately sent troops to act in case of need. 

When the duke of Milan knew of this, he sent count 
Borelli with a large force along the Ticino. Near the vil- 
lage of Giornico lay the advanced guard of the Swiss. 
They were only six hundred men of Uri, Lucerne, Schwyz 
and Zurich ; the other Confederates, to the number of ten 
thousand, were still far behind. Borelli wished to occupy 



-1489.] FRlSCEtHANS THeILIG. 115 

Giornico with, the best of his troops. But it was raid-win- 
ter. The Swiss let the waters of the Ticino over the mea- 
dows, which were immediately covered with ice ; then they 
fastened ice-nails to their shoes. While the Milanese were 
ascending the slippery slope with insecure steps, the Swiss 
rushed upon with firm foothold (28th December, 1478). 
Their small number had easy work with the multitude of 
enemies, who could not stand securely on their legs. Frisch- 
hans Theilig, the Lucerners' captain, was the angel of death 
to the Milanese, These fled in terror : fifteen thousand 
men before six hundred. Their blood dyed the snow as 
far as Bellinzona ; more than fifteen hundred were slain. 
This almost incredible feat made the name of Swiss cele- 
brated throughout Italy. Milan purchased peace, paid 
damages, and recognized that the Leventina with the val- 
ley of Brugiasco belonged to Uri in perpetual fief, on con- 
dition that Uri should yearly send to the Duomo of Milan 
a wax candle weighing three pounds. 

In most of the wars, especially against Burgundy, the 
cities of Solothurn and Freiburg had fought valiantly for 
the Confederates. Therefore Berne desired to bring these 
two cities into the Confederacy. The free country-people 
in Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden were, on the contrary, 
much opposed to this. They feared lest the cities, which 
were more advanced in civilization and acquirements, and 
which, moreover, were always striving to increase their 
territory and subjects, should finally become masters, and 
rule the whole Confederacy to suit their pleasure and their 
interests. On account of this jealousy and fear, they were 
unwilling to admit any more dominant cities. The cities, 
on their side, entertained quite other suspicions against 
the free country-cantons. Immediately after the disorders 
occasioned by the band of joyous life, Zurich, Berne and 
Lucerne had made with each other and with Solothurn and 
Freiburg a treaty of coburghership, for mutual support, 
because the}'" feared lest the free country-people of the 
small cantons might wish to have all Swiss as free as them- 
selves, and even excite the subjects of the cities, sooner or 
later, to throw off the yoke of the city -burghers and to in- 
troduce an entirely communal government. The city- 



116 PETER AM STALDEi^. [uYS- 

burghers did not desire this. They had acquired their 
subjects by conquest or purchase, and wished their rights 
to remain untouched. 

Thus arose a reciprocal mistrust among the Confederates. 
An occurrence confirmed the suspicions of the cities. At 
Escholzmatt, in the Lucerne bailiwick of EntUbuch, lived 
Peter Am Stalden, a valiant warrior ; he was often visited 
by his cousin, the ancient landammann Henry Burgler of 
Obwalden, and the latter's brother-in-law Kuhnegger ; seated 
over a glass of wine, they liked to talk about liberty. Peter 
had reason to complain of the bailiff in Entlibuch and of the 
patricians in Lucerne. The Obwaldeners persuaded him 
to strike a great blow in the city itself, on the feast of St. 
Leodegar. Men were to come from Obwalden and help : 
the avoyer, council and hundred were to be sent to the 
other world, towers and walls to be thrown down. Lucerne 
to become a beautiful village, Entlibuch a free state. Such 
was their plan. The Lucerners heard of it, because Peter 
betrayed himself by imprudent talk. He was seized and 
imprisoned ; forced to confess everything, and beheaded. 

This happened at the time (1481) when all the Confede- 
rates and with them deputies from St. Gallen and Appen- 
zell, Solothurn and Freiburg, were assembled in diet at 
Stanz in Nidwalden. There the suspicions and distrust 
between all the cantons broke forth, on occasion of the di- 
vision of the Burgundian booty, the admission of the two 
cities into the Confederacy, and many other matters. The 
three primitive cantons, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, ut- 
tered such terrible threats against the cities, and Lucerne 
and the cities were so enraged against the three cantons, 
that the Freiburgers and Solothurners voluntarily and 
modestly withdrew their application, and a report was 
spread through all the land that the sword would be re- 
sorted to, and that the Confederacy must be dissolved. 

This report terrified the pastor of Stanz, Henry Imgrund, 
a zealous Confederate. He seized his walking-staff, and 
hurried to the wilderness of Raufttobel, to announce this 
misfortune to the pious brother Nicholas Lowenbrugger. 
This pious man, who was also called "von der Fine" from 
the rock near Saxeln in Obwalden, on which he dwelt, had 



-1489.] THE COVENANT OF STANZ. 117 

already lived several years in the solitude of this wilder- 
ness, engaged in prayer and the contemplation of heavenly 
things. He was revered for his devotion throughout the 
whole country. It was said of him: that he had lived 
many years without food or nourishment, except that he 
partook monthly of the holy supper. He slept in a narrow 
cell upon hard boards, a stone serving him for a pillow. 
His wife, with whom he had had five sons and five daugh- 
ters, lived above on the mountain on his farm. He had 
formerly shown himself a courageous and humane soldier, 
in the war of Thurgau. 

As soon as Nicholas von der Flue heard of the discord of 
the Confederates from the pastor of Stanz, he left his her- 
mitage, went to Stanz, and entered the hall where the coun- 
cil-lords were assembled. All rose from their seats at the 
appearance of the venerable old man, of tall spare form, 
but still youthful vigor. He spoke to them with the dig- 
nity of a divine messenger, and exhorted them to peace 
and concord in the name of that God who had given so 
many victories to them and their fathers. " You have be- 
come strong," said he, "by the power of your united arms ; 
will you now separate for the sake of vile booty ? Beware 
lest neighboring nations perceive this ! Cities ! insist not 
on burgher-rights which wound the old Confederates! 
Cantons ! remember how Freiburg and Solothurn have 
fought by your side ! Receive them into the bond. But, 
Confederates ! enlarge not too much the hedge which en- 
closes you. Have nothing to do with foreign quarrels! 
Beware of all party-spirit! Far from every one be the 
thought of accepting gold as the price of his fatherland." 

This and more said Nicholas von der Flue, and all 
hearts were so touched and moved by the words of the 
holy hermit that in a single hour all was settled. In the 
same day Solothurn and Freiburg joined in the perpetual 
bond of the Confederates. This was on Saturday, 20 De- 
cember, 1481. In the covenant of Stanz, then concluded, 
they ratified all the ancient compacts, as well as the Pfaf- 
fenbrief (an edict of 1881 against the encroachments of 
the priests) and the convention of Serapach, and accepted 
the proposition of pious Nicholas to divide among the can ' 



118 REVOLT OF THE [W : 

tons all territory conquered in war, and all booty amon . 
the troops. It was also agreed that, without consent a : 
authorization of his lords and magistrates, no one shoui 
assemble the communes and make important proposi.- 
But if the subjects of one canton should rise againsc-^ss. 
magistrates, all the other cantons were to aid in compellii i 
the discontented to return to their duty. -a 

This done, the hermit returned to his solitude, efd 
deputy to his canton. Joy prevailed ever}^ where. F: f 
all the church- towers the solemn sound of bells announce . 
the general satisfaction, from the Alps to the Jura. 

But the concord reestablished at Stanz did not restore 
the ancient discipline and habits of the Confederates. Cu- 
pidity and haughtiness increased among the city-authori- 
ties, venality among the magistrates, rudeness in the com- 
munes, dissipation and the taste for robbery among the 
people. The law was too often but a deceitful web, 
through which the rich passed unscathed, but in which 
the poor man was taken. And justice, when she had 
slumbered too long, frequently woke in bloodthirsty 
anger. In only three months of the year 1480, nearly 
fifteen hundred assassins and robbers were condemned by 
the tribunals of Switzerland. In the diet of Baden it was 
decided that whoever stole the value of a rope should be 
hanged without mercy. The emigration to foreign wars 
was continuous. Young men frequently marched forth, 
by hundreds and thousands, with musicians at their head, 
over the Khine and over the mountains, to follow the 
standards of kings, and to find booty, or death. Neither 
was there any lack of wars in the neighborhood. In one 
single year (1487), there were four wars on the side of It- 
aly: of the Orisons against Milan; of the Grisons and 
Confederates near Koveredo against Yenice ; of the Ya- 
laisians against Milan ; of the Bernese and other western 
Swiss for the duke of Savoy against the Piedmontese near 
Saluzzo. 

Internal dissensions and troubles, also, were not want- 
ing. The nobles and priests in Zurich, who were mortal 
enemies of wise and valiant John Waldmann, burgomaster 
of this city, because he sought to restrain them^ excited 



H489.] SUBJECTS OF ZURICH. 119 

a' 

nt r3 burghers and country-people against him by their 
thi'a called him a tyrant who made laws on his own au- 
whcL.-r and trod under foot the ancient rights. John 
nia/:*,atQann was the son of a peasant of Blikestorf in Zug ; 
P' \ came to Zurich as a tanner, there raised himself by his 
celJ;at talents and courage, acquired glory as the victorious 
Hi%o of Morat and Nancy, and was highly esteemed by 
ter /federates and princes. But the Confederates com- 
f 'lained of his friendship for Austria and Milan, the Zu- 
richers of his haughtiness and abuse of power. This did 
not restrain the burgomaster ; and woe to any one who 
opposed him in word or deed I When Frischhans Theilig 
of Lucerne, the heroic warrior of Giornico, who had often 
blamed Waldmann's partiality for Milan, came to Zurich 
one day with cloth for sale, Waldmann caused him to be 
seized and beheaded, though Lucerne begged earnestly for 
the life of her hero. 

Such arrogance excited public indignation against this 
man so rich in the gifts of nature, and at last occasioned 
his ruin. His enemies directed against him the discontent 
of the country-people on the lake of Zurich, when the 
communes of Maila and Herrliberg rose first and were 
shortly followed by several of the lake- villages, who com- 
plained of the severity of the laws and numerous vexa- 
tions. The peasants from the lake came with arms to the 
walls of Zurich and said : '' Remember, lords, how you 
promised in the Wasserkirche, after the war of Zurich, 
that you would impose no new tax upon us !" Thither 
came, also, deputies from the Confederates, as mediators, 
according to the agreement of the recent Diet, and declared 
that the complaints of the communes should be examined 
into and the people tranquillized. But Waldmann, who 
thought that the honor of the city was compromised by 
this declaration, caused the city-recorder to alter the 
sentence to the effect that the peasants, having made un- 
founded complaints, were humbly to ask pardon for their 
injustice, and to have their grievances examined into at 
the first fitting opportunity. 

As soon as this falsification of the sentence became 
known^ there was a fresh rising against the city and dis« 



120 CONVENTION OF WALDMANN. [U90- 

turbances within the walls, so that the burgomaster d ) 
longer went forth without his armor, and slept in the coiin- 
cil-house. But woe to that magistrate who requires other 
arms for his defence than the love of the people. Burt^o 
master and knight Waldmann was seized in a tumul'^ 
with his adherents, carried to the Wellenberg, tortured ai a 
beheaded (6th April, 1489). Waldmann was indeed crj n- 
inal, but the furious party-rage against him was not less sv.. 

On the day of his death, the magistrates and subjects of^ 
Zurich, as equal parties, appeared before the tribunal of 
the Confederates, and the latter succeeded in reconciling 
both by what was called the convention of Waldmann. It 
enjoined on the people of the country to submit loyally and 
sincerely to the burgomaster, councillors and great-coun- 
cil of the city of Zurich, but secured to them the right 
of carrying their merchandise to what market they pleased ; 
of establishing themselves wherever they chose ; of exerci- 
sing handicrafts in the villages ; of cultivating the vine and 
managing their lands to their liking; of choosing a sub -bailiff 
for themselves in the lake-communes, and many other priv- 
ileges. In case the city of Zurich attempted to exercise any 
illegal power over the people on the lake, then two or three 
parishes were to assemble and deliberate, and ten or twenty 
deputies from each parish were to carry their complaints be- 
fore the Confederates at Zurich, in order to obtain justice. 

This convention was sealed by the seven cantons of the 
Confederacy, as mediators and sureties, on 9th May, 1489. 



^ CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SUABIAN WAR. FORMATION OF THE CONFEDERACY OF THK 

THIRTEEN CANTONS. 

[A. D. 1490 to 1500.] 

When, in any country, the spirit of party prevails over 
truth, and power over justice, then farewell peace! fare- 
well liberty ! Such was the lot of Zurich after the execu- 



-11500.] EMPEROR MAXIMlLIAI^". 121 

tjon of John Waldmann. By the convention of Waldmann, 
the, city lost much of the ancient respect of her subjects, 
and troubles which endured for centuries were originated. 
The enemies of Waldmann, seated in the council, posses- 
sors and dissipators of his wealth, persecutors of his parti- 
sans, surpassed him in tyranny and injustice. Their 
arbitrary government desolated the country. This gov- 
ernment was called the " council of horn ;" its hardness 
caused Waldmann to be much regretted. 

In St. Grallen, also, discord again prevailed between the 
city and the abbot. When the latter began to build a new 
convent on his own estate and territory at Rorschach, the 
people of St. Grallen were irritated. The Appenzellers, 
never friends to the abbot, hastened to their assistance ; 
even the abbey-people declared in favor of the citizens. 
The convent was destroyed. Then the abbot cried for 
help to the four cantons, protectors of the abbey ; Zurich, 
Lucerne, Schwyz and Grlarus came and restored peace by 
force of arms (1490). This cost St. Gallen a great deal of 
money, and Appenzell lost, for war-expenses, the Rhein- 
thal and a part of the signiory of Sax, which the protect- 
ing cantons retained, and in the government of which they 
associated Uri, Unterwalden and Zug, afterwards Appen- 
zell (1501) and finally (1712) Berne also. Such conquests 
of Confederates from Confederates made bad blood. 

Fortunately danger and trouble soon appeared from 
abroad. This united them all anew, and was therefore 
salutary. 

Maximilian I. of Austria was emperor of Germany. He 
had received from France the country of Lower Burgundy, 
and, to hold it more securely, incorporated it with the 
German empire, as a single circle. He wished to make 
Switzerland, also, such a German imperial circle. The 
Confederates refused, preferring to remain by themselves 
as they had been until then. In Suabia, the existing states 
had formed a league among themselves for the suppression 
of small wars and feuds. This pleased the politic empe- 
ror ; by becoming an associate, he placed himself at the 
head of the league, which he was able to direct for the 
aggrandisement of his house of Austria. He desired that 
6 L 



122 TYROL AND ENaADINE. [UyO- 

the Confederates, also, should enter the Suabian league. 
The Swiss again refused, preferring to remain by them- 
'^elves as before. 

The emperor was irritated at this, and, at Innspruch, he 
said to the de])uties of the Confederates: "You are refrac- 
tory members of the empire ; some day I shall have to pay 
you a visit, sword in hand." The deputies answered and 
said: " We humbly beseech your imperial majesty to dis- 
pense with such a visit, for our Swiss are rude men, and do 
not even respect crowns." 

The boldness of the Confederates wounded the Suabian 
league no less. Many provocations and quarrels took 
place, here and there, between the people on the borders, 
so that the city of Constance, for her own security, joined 
the Suabian league. For, one day, a band of valiant men 
of Thurgau, incited by the bailiff from Uri, had tried to 
surprise the city, in order to punish her for her bravadoes 
against the Swiss. 

Neither were the Austrians good neighbors to the Gri- 
sons. The Tyrol and Engadine were constantly discussing 
and disputing about markets, privileges and tolls. Once, 
indeed, (1476) the Tyrolese had marched armed into the 
valley of Engadine, but were driven back into their own 
country through the narrow pass of Finstermunz, with 
bloody heads. Now there was a fresh cause of quarrel. 
In the division of the Toggenburger-inheritance, the rights 
of Toggenburg in the Ten Jurisdictions had fallen to the 
counts of Matsch, Sax and Montfort, and afterwards (1478 
and 1489), by purchase, to the ducal house of Austria. 
Hence much trouble arose. 

As the Grisons had equal cause with the Confederates to 
fear the power and purposes of emperor Maximilian, the 
Grey league (1497) and that of God's-house (1498) made a 
friendly and defensive alliance with Zurich, Lucerne, Uri, 
Schvvyz, Untervvalden, Zug and Glarus. The Ten juris- 
dictions dared not join them for fear of Austria. 

Then the emperor restrained his anger no longer. And, 
though already burdened with a heavy war in the Nether- 
lands, he sent fresh troops into the Tyrol, and the forces 
of the Suabian league advanced and hemmed in Switzer- 



*l56oJ SWITZERLAND IN DANGER. 123 

land from the Grrison pass near Luziensteig (between the 
Rhetian mountains and Germany) along the lake of Con- 
stance and the Rhine, as far as Bale. 

Then Switzerland and Rhetia were in great danger. But 
the Grisons rose courageously to defend their freedom, as 
did all the Confederates. The Sargansers, also, and the 
Appenzellers hastened to the Schollenberg ; the banners 
of Valais, Bale and Schaffhausen soon floated in view of 
the enemy. No man stayed at home. 

It was in February, 1499, that the strife began. Then 
eight thousand imperialists entered the Grison territory of 
Munsterthal and Engadine ; Louis of Brandis, the empe- 
ror's general, with several thousand men, surprised and 
held the pass of Luziensteig, and, by the treachery of four 
burghers, the little city of Maienfeld. But the Grisons re- 
took the Luziensteig ; eight hundred Suabians here found 
their death ; the rest fled to Balzers. Then the Confede- 
rates passed the Rhine near Azmoos, and, with the Grisons, 
obtained a great victory near Treisen. The Suabian no- 
bility, with ten thousand soldiers, were posted near St. 
John's at Hochst and Hard, between Bregenz and Fussach. 
Eight thousand Confederates killed nearly half of the 
enemy's army, ascended as far as the forests of Bregenz, and 
imposed contributions on the country. Ten thousand other 
Confederates passed victorious over the Hegau, and in 
eight days, burnt twenty villages, hamlets and castles. 
Skirmish followed quickly upon skirmish, battle upon 
battle. 

The enemy, indeed, issuing from Constance, succeeded 
in surprising the Confederate garrison of Ermatingen while 
asleep, and in murdering, in their beds, sixty-three defence- 
less men. But they bloodily expiated this in the wood of 
Schwaderlochs, whence eighteen thousand of them, van- 
quished by two thousand Confederates, fled in such haste 
that the city -gates of Constance were too narrow for the fu- 
gitives, and the number of their dead exceeded that of the 
Swiss opposed to them. A body of Confederates, on the 
"upper Rhine, penetrated into Wallgau, where the enemy 
were entrenched near Frastenz, and, fourteen thousand 
strong, feared not the valor of the Swiss. But when Henry 



124 BEK"EDICT ro^CTAlJA. [l490- 

Wolleb, the hero of Uri, had pavssed the Langengasterberg, 
with two thousand brave men, and turned the strong en- 
trenchment, his heroic death was the signal of victory to 
the Confederates. They rushed under the thunder of ar- 
tilley into the ranks of Austria, and dealt their fearfal 
blows. Three thousand dead bodies covered the battle- 
field of Frastenz. Such Austrians as were left alive fled 
in terror through woods and waters. Then each Swiss 
fought as though victory depended on his single arm ; for 
Switzerland and Swiss glory, each flew joyously to meet 
danger and death, and counted not the number of the en- 
emy. And wherever a Swiss banner floated, there was 
more than one like John Wala of Grlarus, who, near Gams 
in Eheinthal, measured himself singly with thirty horse- 
men. 

The Grisons, also, fought with no less glory. Witness 
the Malserhaide in Tyrol, where fifteen thousand men, un- 
der Austrian banners, behind strong entrenchments, were 
attacked by only eight thousand Grisons. The ramparts 
were turned, the entrenchments stormed. Benedict Fon- 
tana was first on the enemy's wall. He had cleared the 
way. With his left hand holding the wide wound from 
which his entrails protruded, he fought with his right and 
cried: "Forward, now, fellow-leaguers! let not my fall 
stop you ! It is but one man the less ! To-day you must 
save your free fatherland and your free leagues. If you 
are conquered, you leave your children in everlasting 
slavery." So said Fontana and died. The Malserhaide 
was full of Austrian dead. Nearly five thousand fell. 
The Grisons had only two hundred killed and seven hun- 
dred wounded. 

When emperor Maximilian, in the Netherlands, heard 
of so many battles lost, he came and reproached his gen- 
erals, and said to the princes of the German empire: 
'' Send to me auxiliaries against the Swiss, so bold as to 
have attacked the empire. For these rude peasants, in 
whom there is neither virtue, nor noble blood, nor mag- 
nanimity, but who are full of coarseness, pride, perfidy and 
hatred of the German nation, have drawn into their party 
many hitherto faithful subjects of the empire." 



-1500.] SWISS VALOR. 125 

But the princes of the empire delayed to send auxilia- 
ries, and the emperor then learnt, with increasing horror, 
that his army, sent over the Engadine mountains to sup- 
press the Grrison league, had been destroyed in midsum- 
mer by avalanches, famine, and the masses of rock which 
the Grisons threw down from the mountains ; then, that on 
the woody height of Bruderholz, not far from Bale, one 
thousand Swiss had vanquished more than four thousand 
of their enemies; that, shortly after, in the same region, 
near Dornach, six thousand Confederates had obtained a 
brilliant victory over fifteen thousand Austrians, killing 
three thousand men, with their general, Henry of Furst- 
enberg. Then the emperor reflected that, within eight 
months, the Swiss had been eight times victorious in eight 
battles. And he decided to end a war in which more than 
twenty thousand men had already fallen, and nearly two 
thousand villages, hamlets, castles and cities been de- 
stroyed. 

Peace was negotiated and concluded on 22d Septem- 
ber, 1499, in the city of Bale. The emperor acknowledged 
the ancient rights and the conquests of the Confederates, 
and granted to them, moreover, the ordinary jurisdiction 
over Thurgau, which, with the crimmal jurisdiction and 
other sovereiojn ris^hts, had, until then, belono-ed to the 
city of Constance. Thenceforward the emperors thought 
no more of dissolving the Confederacy, or of incorporating 
it with the Grerman empire. In the fields of Frastenz, of 
Malserhaide and Dornach, were laid the first foundation- 
stones of Swiss independence of foreign power. 

The confederated cantons thankfully acknowledged 
what Bale and Schaffhausen had constantly done in these 
heroic days for the whole Confederacy, and that warlike 
Appenzell had never been backward at the call of glory 
and liberty. Therefore, Bale (9th June, 1501) and flour- 
ishing Schaffhausen (9th August, 1501) were received into 
the perpetual Swiss bond, and finally (1513) Appenzell, 
already united in perpetual alliance with most of the can- 
tons, was acknowledged as coequal with all the Confed- 
erates. 

Thus^ in the 205th jear after the deed of William Tell, 



126 SERFDOM OF THE PEOPLE. [1600- 

the Confederacy of the Thirteen Cantons was completed. 
But Yalais and Grisons were considered as cantons allied 
to the Confederacy, as were St. Gallen, Muhlhaasen, 
Eothweil in Suabia, and other cities: all free places, sub- 
ject to no prince, united with the Swiss by a defensive 
alliance. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE SAVAGE MANNERS AND MERCENARY WARS OF TITE SWISS ; 
THEY CONQUER VALTELINA AND THE ITALIAN BAILIWICKS. 

[A. D. 1500 to 1525.] 

At that period, the thirteen cantons of the Swiss Con- 
federacy were not yet, as now, equal in virtue of the bond, 
nor bound together directly by one and the same covenant. 
They were properly united only with the three cantons of 
Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, as with a common centre, 
but among themselves by special treaties. Each canton 
was attentive to its own interests and glory, seldom to 
those of the others, or to the welfare of the whole Confed- 
eracy. Fear of the ambition and power of neighboring 
lords and princes had drawn them together more and more. 
So long as this fear lasted, their union was strong. 

As the governments were independent of each other, so 
far as their covenants allowed, and of foreign princes also, 
they called themselves free Swiss. But within the country 
districts there was little freedom for the people. Only in 
the shepherd-cantons (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, also 
Zug, Grlarus and Appenzell) did the country-people pos- 
sess equal rights, and in the city-cantons, only the burghers 
of the cities ; and often, even among these latter, only a 
few rich or ancient families. The rest of the people, de- 
pendent on the cities, having been either purchased or 
conquered, were subjects, often indeed serfs, and enjoyed 
only the limited rights which they had formerly possessed 
under the counts and princes. Even the shepherd-cantons 
bejel subjects^ whom they, like princes, governed by their 



-1626.] GENEPwAL DEM0TIALI2ATI0N. 127 

bailiffs. And the Confederate-cantons and cities would by 
no means allow their subjects to purcliase their freedom, as 
the old counts and lords had formerly permitted the Con- 
federates themselves to do. 

But the people cared little for liberty ; made rude'and 
savage by continual wars, they loved only quarrels and 
combats, revels and debauchery. When there was no war 
in their own country, the young men, greedy of booty, 
followed foreign drums, and fought the battles of princes 
for hire. There were no good schools in the villages, and 
the clergy cared little for this. Indeed, the morals of the 
clergy were often no less depraved than those of the citi- 
zens and country-people ; even in the convents great dis- 
orders frequently prevailed with great wealth. Many of 
the priests were very ignorant ; many gambled, drank and 
blasphemed ; many led shameless lives.- 

In the chief cities of the cantons, debauchery and dissi- 
pation were rife. There was much division between citi- 
zens and councillors ; envy and distrust between the dif- 
ferent professions. The lords, when once seated in the 
great and small councils (legislative and executive), cared 
more for themselves and their families than for the welfare 
of the citizens ; they endeavored to advance their sons and 
relatives, and to procure lucrative offices for them. In all 
the cantons, there were, certainly, some great, patriotic 
souls, who preferred the interests of their country to their 
own, but no one listened to them. 

As Switzerland had now no foreign wars to fear, and 
the neighboring kings and princes were pleased to have in 
their armies Swiss, for whose life and death they cared 
much less than for the life and death of their own subjects: 
the principal families of the city- and countrj^-cantons took 
advantage of these circumstances to open fountains of 
wealth for themselves. The desire of the kings to enlist 
valiant Swiss favored the avidity of the council -lords, as 
did the wish of the young men to get booty. In spite of 
the positive prohibition of the magistrates, thousands of 
young men often enlisted in foreign service, where most 
of them perished miserably, because no one cared for them. 
Therefore the governments judged it best to make treaties 



128 LOVE OF Mo^^Er. [1500- 

with the kings for the raising of Swiss regiments, com- 
manded by national officers, subject to their own laws and 
regularly paid, so that each government could take care 
of its subjects when abroad. "Confederates! you require 
a vent for your energies," had Rudolf Reding of Schwyz 
already said, when, years before, he saw the free life of the 
young men after the Burgundian war. 

Now began the letting out of Swiss, Grisons and Yalais- 
ians, to foreign military service, by their governments. 
The first treaty of this nature was made by the king of 
France (1479 and 1480) with the Confederates in Lucerne. 
Next the house of Austria hired mercenaries (1499) ; the 
princes of Italy did the same, as did others afterwards. 
Even the popes themselves wanted a life-guard of Swiss ; 
the first (1503) was pope Julius II., who was often engaged 
in war. 

Switzerland suffered much from this course. Many a 
field remained untilled, many a plough stood still, because 
the husbandman had taken mercenary arms. And, if he 
returned alive, he brought back foreign diseases and vices, 
and corrupted the innocent by evil example, for he' had 
acquired but little virtue in the wars. Only the sons of 
the patricians and council-lords obtained captaincies, com- 
mands and riches, by which they increased their influence 
and consideration in the land, and could oppress others. 
They prided themselves on the titles of nobility and deco- 
rations conferred by kings, and imagined these to be of 
value, and that they themselves were more than other 
Swiss. 

When the kings perceived the cupidity and folly of the 
Swiss, they took advantage of them for their own profit, 
sent embassadors into Switzerland, distributed presents, 
granted gratifications and pensions to their partisans in the 
councils, and for these the council-lords became willing 
servants of foreign princes. Then one canton was French, 
another Milanese ; one Venetian, another Spanish ; but 
rarely was one Swiss. This redounded greatly to the 
shame of the Swiss. When the Grerman emperor and the 
king of France were, at the, same time, canvassing Ihe 
favor of the cantons and bargaining in competition for 



-15S6.] CARDINAL SCHINNER. 129 

troops, so great was the contempt or insolence of the 
French embassador at Berne (1516), that he distributed 
the royal pensions to the lords by sound of trumpet; at 
Freiburg, he poured out silver crowns upon the ground, 
and, while he heaped them up with a shovel, said to the 
bystanders : " Does not this silver jingle better than the 
emperor's empty words ?" So much had love of money 
debased the Swiss. 

The twelve cantons, Appenzell being the only excep- 
tion, were at one moment allied with Milan against France, 
at the next, with France against Milan. Milan was right- 
ly called the Schwyzer's grave. It was not unusual for 
Confederates to fight against Confederates on foreign soil, 
and to kill each other for hire. The ecclesiastical lord, 
Matthew Schinner, bishop of Sion in Yalais, a very deceit- 
ful man, helped greatly to occasion this. According as ho 
was hired, he intrigued in Switzerland, sometimes for the 
king of France, sometimes against France for the pope, 
who, in payment, even made him cardinal and embassador 
to the Conjfederacy. 

The mercenary wars of the Swiss upon foreign battle- 
fields were not wars for liberty or for honor; but these 
hirelings of princes maintained their reputation for valor 
even there. With the aid of several thousand Confederates 
the king of France subjected the whole of Lombardy in 
the space of twenty days. But the expelled duke of the 
,country soon returned with five thousand Swiss, whom he 
had enlisted contrary to the will of the magistracy, to 
drive out the French. Then the king of France received 
twenty thousand men from the cantons with whom he was 
allied ; maintained himself in Italy, and gave to the three 
cantons, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden (1502 and 1503), 
the districts of Palenza, Riviera and Bellenz. But, as 
soon as the king thought he could do without the Swiss, 
he paid them badly and irregularly. Cardinal Schinner, 
pleased at this, immediately shook a bag of gold, with 
53,000 guilders, in favor of the pope and of Venice. At 
once (1512) twenty thousand Swiss and Grisons crossed 
the high Alps, and joined the Venetians against the French. 
The Grrisons took possession of Valtelina, Chiavenna and 



130 FRANCIS I. OF FRANCE. [1500- 

Bormio. They asserted that, a century before, an ejected 
duke of Milan had ceded these valleys to the bishopric of 
Coire. The Confederates of the twelve cantons subjected 
Lugano, Locarno and Yalmaggia. The French were driven 
out of Lombardy, and the young duke, Maximilian Sforza, 
son of him who had been dispossessed by them, was rein- 
stated in his father's inheritance at Milan. Victorious for 
him, the Confederates beat the French near Kovara (6th 
Jane 1518); two thousand Swiss fell, it is true, but ten 
thousand of the enemy. Still more murderous was the 
two days' battle of Marignano (14th Sept. 1515), in which 
barely ten thousand Swiss fought against fifty thousand 
French. They lost the battle-field, indeed, but not their 
honor. They sadly retreated to Milan, with their field- 
pieces on their backs, their wounded in the centre of their 
army. The enemy lost the flower of their troops, and 
called this action " the battle of the giants." 

Then the king of France, Francis I., terrified by a vic- 
tory which resembled a defeat, made, in the next year, a 
perpetual peace with the Confederates, and, by money and 
promises, persuaded some to furnish him with troops, the 
others, that they would allow no enrolling by his enemies. 
Thus the Confederates once more helped him against the 
emperor' and pope, and against Milan, and the king con- 
cluded a friendly alliance with them in 1521. During 
many years, they shed their blood for him on the battle- 
fields of Italy, without good result, without advantage, 
except that the Confederacy stood godmother to his new- 
born son. Each canton sent to Paris, for the fete, a depu- 
ty with a baptismal present of fifty ducats. More agreea- 
ble to the king than this present, was the promptitude with 
which the Swiss sent sixteen thousand of their troops to 
his assistance in Italy. However, as they had lost (20th 
April, 1522) three thousand men near Bicocca ; as of nearly 
fifteen thousand who entered Lombardy (1524) hardly four 
thousand came back; as, finally, in the battle near Pavia 
(24th Feb. 1525) in which the king himself became pris- 
oner to the emperor, the Swiss experienced a fresh loss of 
seven thousand men, they, by degrees, lost all taste for 
Italian wars, 



-1519.] REFORM IN THE COUNCILS. 131 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

BEGINNING OF THE RELIGIOUS SCHISM IN SWITZERLAND. 
[A. D. 1519 to 152T.] 

The mercenary wars in Lombardy, Naples, France, 
Piedmont, and wherever else they were undertaken for 
hire and presents, had also some good results. The mili- 
tary glory acquired was, indeed, of little advantage to the 
country, and the conquest of the Italian bailiwicks of more 
prejudice than profit. For the Confederacy gained no 
strength or security against foreign powers by the acqui- 
sition of this small territory or the increased number of 
her subjects, but was made weaker by internal dissensions 
respecting this perilous property, while the sale of offices, 
the bad government, the corruption of justice, made her 
despicable in the eyes of Europe. The avaricious military 
leaders and bailiffs were the only gainers. A few families 
were made rich ; the subjects poor and savage. 

The good results of these campaigns were, that, after so 
many losses and sacrifices, the Confederates at last discov- 
ered that it was not good for them to mix in foreign quar- 
rels, to allow foreign embassadors to acquire so much in- 
fluence over the cantons, or to permit the magistrates to 
receive presents and pensions from princes. Therefore 
several cantons forbade the open or secret reception of such 
money, and decreed that no member of a free government 
should be the hireling of a foreign lord. Even the com- 
mon people, several times, gave way to their aoger against 
those who, for the silver crowns of kings, carried on a 
slave-trade for foreign service, and betrayed kings and 
fatherland equally. Thus there was a great rising at Lu- 
cerne (1513) to obtain the punishment of such dealers in 
human flesh. The ominous excitement of the people at last 
became so general, that Lucerne, Berne and Zurich expelled 
from their councils these hated eaters of men, and punished 
them pecuniarily and capitally, or by banishment. After 
thousands and thousands of valiant young inen had fallen 



132 SALE OF INDULGENCES. [l619- 

in distant lands, Switzerland found a respite from her dis- 
orders, the governments administered the laws better, 
moderation and good conduct replaced vicious excesses. 
Many cantons undertook this reform with much earnest- 
ness. 

At this time there were many learned men in Switzer- 
land, particularly among the clergy. In the cities were 
very good schools. But the country-people lived in the 
deepest ignorance, and hardly one in a thousand could 
read or write. Hence the greater part of the people had 
no knowledge of religion, especially where the pastors 
neglected to give them truly Christian instruction. This 
occasioned great evils ; still more, when the clergy pre- 
ferred to keep the people subservient by ignorance, rather 
than to make them enlightened and pious ; and when, 
more devoted to the pleasures of the world than to heav- 
enly things, they unbiushingly gave to their flocks an ex- 
ample of cupidity, debauchery, drunkenness and gambling, 
instead of warning them from such vices. 

These things disgusted all persons of sound mind and 
good heart, especially when they saw that the most vicious 
and licentious priests and monks were absolved by their 
superiors, themselves not free from blame, and remained 
unpunished. And the indignation of many, both laymen 
and ecclesiastics, was excited when the Dominicans, at 
Berne, having recourse to the vilest fraud for the vilest 
purposes, played upon credulity by pretended apparitions 
and miracles, so that a poor unfortunate, named Jetzer, 
became almost crazed in consequence. 

At this period Leo X., pope of Eome, wishing to embel- 
lish his capital with palaces and the most magnificent of 
all churches, required a great deal of money, and therefore 
instituted the sale of indulgences. He leased this traffic in 
Switzerland to a Franciscan monk, Bernardin Samson. 
But as much money was thereby taken from the country, 
the civil authorities were displeased, and not unwillingly 
saw an opposition excited against this trade. When the 
pastor of Einsiedeln, a secular ecclesiastic, by name Ulrich 
Zwingli, a native of Wildhaus in Toggenburg, preached 
publicly against the pretence of offering forgiveness of sina 



-1527.] 0LRICH ZWINTGLI. 13 



for money, even the bishop of Constance displayed no anger. 

But ZwingK did not rest here; he warmly attacked the 
sins and vices of both laymen and clergy. Then many 
opposed him, tried to reduce him to silence. But he, in- 
stead of being frightened, became bolder, and drew his ar- 
guments from the word of God. And he began to teach 
that a pure life and religious mind were more pleasing to 
the Heavenly Father than pilgrimages and macerations of 
the flesh, and that the bread and wine in the holy supper 
were symbols of the life and blood of Jesus. He also re- 
pudiated the mass, the doctrine of purgatory, the worship 
of saints, the celibacy of priests, and many other things. 

Other ecclesiastics, among whom were many learned and 
pious men, thought like Zwingli. Especially had he many 
followers in the cities of Zurich, Berne, Bale, Schaffhausen, 
St. Gallen, Bienne, Coire and others, where good schools 
and solid information prevailed. And when Zwingli, called 
to Zurich, on the 1st January 1519, preached there publicly 
as pastor, the people embraced his doctrine and the govern- 
ment gave him their approbation and protection. Many 
monastic and secular ecclesiastics in Switzerland followed 
his example, and taught and preached to the people as he 
did, without fear of man. The adherents to his opinions 
were numerous everywhere. 

These opinions spread, not only in Switzerland but far 
over Germany also. At the same period, a learned Augus- 
tine monk of Wittenberg, Martin Luther, without knowing 
any thing of Zwingli, preached nearly the same doctrine 
as the latter. And, as in Switzerland many magistrates 
became followers of Zwingli, so in Germany and Sweden 
and Denmark and England, kings and princes, with a 
large portion of their people, embraced Luther's doctrines. 
Hence his followers were called Lutherans. In Switzer- 
land, however, the new church-party adopted no man's 
name, but was called " evangelical-reformed ;" that is : the 
church of Christ restored to its primitive purity according 
to the word of God. 

In fact, the pope himself had not denied, at the imperial 
Diet of Nuremberg (1522), that many abuses had crept into 
the catholic church ; " But," said he, " the cure must be 



18i EVANGELICAL PREACHERS. ' [l5ld- 

slow and gradual, lest a total destruction should ensue from 
the endeavor to remedy all at once." So thought, also, the 
good catholics of Switzerland, and they were frightened at 
innovations, and at the idea of abandoning the ancient holy 
faith of their fathers. And many pious and respectable 
men among them said warningly : " Beware of what you 
are doing ! You accuse us of error ; are not you, fallible 
men like ourselves, also subject to error? We follow the 
traditions of pious men who lived a thousand years, and 
more, nearer to the time of Jesus ; why should we rather 
believe you, who are but of to-day? Beware then! while 
with your lips you invoke the love of Grod, you are bring- 
ing bloody hatred, discord and desolation into the father- 
land." 

Loud and long were the talks and negotiations on these 
matters ; each party thought itself right, and accused the 
other of error and heresy. All hearts were filled with 
bitterness and anger. Public conferences on religion, at 
which the magistrates presided, were held between learned 
men of both church- parties, to put an end to the schism; 
but, as is almost always the case, each remained attached 
to his own ideas with more obstinacy than before. 

The new doctrine of the reestablish men t of the ancient 
Christian faith spread further every day. As Zwingli con- 
tributed most to this in Zurich, so, at Berne, Berchtold 
Haller, Lupulus, Nicholas Manuel; and in Bale, CEcolam- 
padius ; among the Grisons, Henry Spreiter at St. Antho- 
ny's, John Comander at Coire, John Blasius at Malans ; on 
the lakes of Geneva and Neuchatel, Nicholas Farel ; in 
Bienne, Thomas Wyttenbach; and numerous others in other 
places. As in Zurich and Berne, the new worship was also 
soon adopted in Schaff hausen. Bale and St. Gall en ; the 
mass, the adoration of saints, the convents, were abolished ; 
the laity received wine, as well as bread, in the holy sup- 
per ; priests were allowed to marry, and the reformed ser- 
vice was introduced among the country-people by sovereign 
decree, and sometimes by force, even against the wishes 
and convictions of many of the subjects. 

If the authorities and pastors went too far in their zeal, 
the rude people often went still further ; they profaned the 



-^til!] fflfi ANAflAPftSfS. 1 



85 



long-adored images of saints, insulted the cross, and mocked 
those wlio wished to remain faithful to their ancient belief. 

This embittered the minds of the catholics, so that they 
were filled with hatred against the reformed Confederates. 
Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden held fast to the 
old faith, burned the writings of Luther by order of the 
pope (1521), and forbade all persons to preach the new doc- 
trine in their territory, under penalty of death. In the 
cantons of Glarus and Appenzell, the people were divided 
(1524) so that catholics and reformed lived in the greatest 
discord. But in Solothurn and Freiburg the governments 
forbade all innovation. 

Finally, when the evangelical doctrines penetrated into 
the common baiUwicks of the Confederacy ; into Kheinthal 
and Thurgau, into Toggenburg, into the free baiUwicks, 
into the county of Baden and other places, those who re- 
mained catholic were alarmed. The small cantons feared 
lest the reform of the common bailiwicks would not only 
restrict their rights of sovereignty, but also render the re- 
formed cities too powerful. The ambition of the cities to 
extend their territory was well known to them. They 
saw, moreover, the violent conduct of the evangelicals in 
several cantons, and how they prevented the catholics from 
following the worship of their fathers. And the ill-will 
became still stronger on the part of the catholics, when they 
perceived that the new teachers did not agree among them- 
selves ; that, in the reformed cantons, violent sectaries oc- 
casioned all kinds of disorders, and resisted the laws and 
authorities. The anabaptists, especially, caused great trou- 
ble and scandal; preaching in the woods and fields, they 
announced the near coming of the Messiah, and the aboli- 
tioQ of all spiritual and temporal subjection. Such was the 
excitement of these enthusiasts, that the cities of Zurich, 
Berne, St. Gallen, Schaff hausen and Bale were compelled 
to put a stop to its consequences by the severest penalties. 
For these people introduced among themselves community 
of property and wives; young girls assumed the character 
of the Messiah ; and Thomas Schmucker, with an axe, be- 
headed his own brother Lienhard on the Muhlegg, as an 
expiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world. 



136 CONVENT OF INTERLAKEN. [l627- 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

PROGRESS OF THE DISCORD IN CHURCH-MATTERS. 
[A. D. 1527 to 1530.] 

From year to year, from day to day, the disorders, 
agitations and enmities, occasioned by the church-schism, 
increased in Switzerland. Each party, to prove its posses- 
sion of true Christianity, pursued the other with most un- 
christian hatred. The greatest misfortunes were antici- 
pated. There were, however, many wise and well-inten- 
tioned Confederates, among both catholics and reformed, 
who said : "If our faith be the true one, if it come from 
God, let us show it to be such by works of love towards 
each other : for love is of God, but hate and enmity are of 
the devil." But that which is generally the case occurred 
now. The voice of the wise was drowned by the cries and 
uproar of those who were zealous from religious presump- 
tion, or from pride and selfishness. 

Among those who raised their voices against either the 
old or the new worship, were thousands and thousands who 
cried out and made an uproar, not for the sake of religion 
and the love of goodness and truth, but to advance their 
own interests under pretext of piety. Among the country- 
people, many expected more freedom and privileges from 
the adoption of the new faith; and, when they found them- 
selves disappointed, returned at once to the catholic church. 
Thus when the council of Berne suppressed the convent of 
Interlaken, and established reformed preachers, the peas- 
ants were greatly delighted. "No more convent," said 
they, "no more tithes, no more taxes!" But as the city 
exacted tithes and taxes in her own behalf, the angry 
peasants became catholics again, drove away the reformed 
preachers, and advanced in arms as far as Thun. Then the 
city called upon her other subjects to arbitrate in this mat- 
ter ; Berne wished for peace, because she could not expect 
prompt or hearty aid from the neighboring cantons, all 
catholics. The subjects did honor to the confidence of the 



-1630.] OBERHASLI. 137 

government, decided justly and said: "The temporal rights 
of the convent pass to the temporal authority, and in no 
way become the property of the peasants." The insur- 
gents of Grindelwald dispersed, still dissatisfied, although 
the city had remitted many of the former charges for the 
benefit of their poor. 

But quiet was not restored. For the dispossessed monks 
of Interlaken travelled about and secretly excited the peo- 
ple. The abbot of Engelberg, fearing for his own ancient 
rights and revenues in Bernese Oberland, did the same, par- 
ticularly in Oberhasli. Oberhasli had enjoyed great free- 
dom from the oldest times : she had her special seal, her 
banner, a landammann of her own choice, and was not so 
much under the immediate sovereignty as under the pro- 
tection of the city of Berne. Now, when the communes 
of Oberhasli, excited by the monks of Engelberg and the 
Unterwaldeners, their neighbors, abolished the reformed 
worship (1528), and introduced catholic priests from Uri and 
Unterwalden, the Grrindelwaldeners did the same ; Aeschi, 
Frutigen, Obersimmen and other valley -districts followed 
the example, and the Unterwaldeners even sent auxiliaries 
over the Brunig to act in case of need. Berne armed 
hastily, and sent her troops to prevent the spread of the 
rebellion. The insurgents, losing courage, dispersed, and 
the Unterwaldeners recrossed the Brunig. Berne pun- 
ished Oberhasli severely : took away the banner and seal 
of the valley for a long time ; deprived the inhabitants of 
the right to choose a landammann forever ; put to death 
the leaders of the insurrection, and compelled the rest to 
beg for pardon on their knees, within a circle formed by 
the troops. In Frutigen, Simmenthal and the other places, 
the reformed worship was reestablished by force. 

Whenever the reformed governments undertook to 
change the church-service in their own and subject dis- 
tricts, they generally met with little opposition. For the 
people were either desirous of a pure faith, or ignorant and 
full of servile fear of the lords and magistrates in the cities. 
They often adopted the new worship less from conviction 
than in blind submission. But in the common bailiwicks, 
where tl)Q mtholic and reformed cantons held equal sover- 



138 VIOLENCE OF BOTH PARTIES. [152T-" 

eignty, great difficulties prevailed and violent disturbances. 
In the free bailiwicks and in the county of Baden, some 
communes changed their worship in one and the same 
year, according as the influence of the catholic or of the 
reformed cantons preponderated. The city-council of 
Bremgarten, urged by the catholic cantons, drove from their 
employ the pastor Henry Bullinger, who had spread the 
new faith through the free bailiwicks, while the people, 
encouraged by Zurich and Berne, maintained the reformed 
worship. Even the abbey of Wettingen adopted the lat- 
ter, and Toggenburg, in spite of her sovereign, the abbot 
of St. Gallen, decreed the abolition of the mass and of the 
adoration of saints. 

The exasperation of the catholic and reformed cantons 
against each other grew more savage from day to day. As 
the catholic avoyer Werli had acted zealously against the 
evangelical worship in Frauenfeld, the Zurichers seized 
him on his passage, although he wore the colors of Unter- 
walden on his cloak, and publicly executed him. On their 
side, the Schwyzers laid hands on the reformed pastor 
Kaiser, of Uznach, and burnt him at the stake as a heretic. 
At last every one feared for his life, when compelled to 
pass through a canton of different faith. When bailiff An- 
thony Abacker had to go from Unterwalden to his office 
in the free bailiwicks, he was unwilling to do so without 
an armed escort. So great was the distrust, the fear and 
the hatred ! When this catholic bailiff reached the free 
bailiwicks, the reformed subjects therein trembled. For 
their safety, Zurich sent eight hundred infantry to Brem- 
garten and to the abbey of Muri (1529), and several thou- 
sand men into Gasterland, into Thurgau, and toward the 
canton of Zug. Berne also armed ten thousand men, to be 
ready for the fight, in case of need. 

The catholic cantons, on their side, armed no less. Uri, 
Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug and Lucerne marched their 
troops together towards the frontiers ; fifteen hundred Va- 
laisians were with tiiem. They had made a league with 
the Eoman king for the defence of the ancient faith. 

Now, when the other cantons saw that Confederates stood 
ready to draw the sword against Confederates, they inter* 



-1530.] ACTIVITY OF THE REFORMED. 189 

fered as mediators, and exhorted to peace. The noble 
spirit of the best days of the Swiss bond still prevailed, and 
the Confederate on the Limmat had not forgotten that the 
man in the Waldstatten was his brother. Thus it was with 
the officers and soldiers of the opposed armies, who took 
their dinners amicably together on the frontiers, set their 
milii -porridge on the boundary -stones of their cantons, and 
fought playfully with their wooden spoons, whenever any 
one passed the border in fishing for a good morsel in the 
common bowl. This time, also, the landammann Aebli of 
Glarus and the syndic Sturm of Strassburg succeeded in 
establishing an equality of religious rights between the dis- 
cordant parties on the 26th of June, 1529. The troops re- 
turned to their homes. 

But hardly were they there, when the old quarrel was re- 
newed, and the reformed were moreover very active in 
spreading their doctrines everywhere. In consequence of 
the zeal of Berne the evangelical worship was adopted in 
the principality of Neuchatel, and the learned Berchtold 
Haller opened a way for it in the canton of Solothurn. 
The activity of Zurich gained over to the new faith many 
communes in Sarganserland and Thurgau and in the county 
of Baden, as well as Kaiserstuhl and Zurzach. And when, 
at this time, the abbot of St. Gallen, Francis Geisberger, 
died, Zurich, with the reformed portion of Glarus, under- 
took to suppress the abbey of St. Gallen, and to secularise 
all there belonging to the chapter. The burghers of St. 
Gallen did, in fact, introduce the reformed service into the 
abbey-church. A large part of the riches of the abbey was 
devoted to the support of the poor; the reformed subjects 
of the abbey were relieved from many charges, and their 
communes received the privilege of choosing their own 
pastors. 

This offended the catholic cantons. For Zurich and Gla- 
rus were not the sole protectors of the abbey of St. Gallen, 
but Lucerne and Schwyz also. And, although the former, 
in the changes, had reserved the rights of the two catholic 
protecting cantons, they nevertheless made continually fresh 
innovations ; and, moreover, though the reformed always 
asserted liberty of conscience among the subjects in. the com- 



140 ZURICH AND BERNE. [l531^ 

mon bailiwicks, as a principle, they rarely allowed it as a 
fact. Even Rapperswjl at last fell from the ancient faith, 
and Toggenburg entertained the hope of purchasing her- 
self entirely free from the rights of the abbey. 

Then Uri, Unterwalden and Zug, also, joined with Schwyz 
and Lucerne, for they found that the last agreement re- 
specting religion was by no means for their advantage. 
And they said : " This is a hard knot, which the sword 
only can loose." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE WAR OF KAPPEL. DEATH OF ZWINGLI. AVOYER WENGI OF 

SOLOTHURN. 

[A. D. 1531 to 1533.] 

The citizens of Zurich were violently excited. All 
Avished for war, but not all from the same motive. Some 
desired it from an overweening zeal for the new faith, per- 
suaded that they ought to sacrifice property and life for 
their religion, and risk every thing to spread it over Swit- 
zerland. Others looked to conquest, and wished to obtain 
the exclusive sovereignty of the common bailiwicks by 
destroying the authority of the catholic cantons therein. 
A third party desired war, in the hope of crushing the 
catholic citizens. For many in Zurich were still secretly 
true to the faith of their fathers, either from conviction or 
from dislike to the austerity of the evangelical preachers, 
who without forbearance censured the licentiousness of 
manners, and inveighed against the venality and pensions 
of the great lords. 

Berne, on the contrary, desired peace. For Berne was 
not sure of quiet in her own territory, and would derive 
no advantage from the secularization of the distant abbey 
of St. Gallen. Therefore Berne said to the Zurichers ; 
*' Why shed the blood of your compatriots? Prohibit all 
trade in grain with the Waldstatten, until they fulfil all 
the articles of the treaty of religion, and give you satisfac- 



-1533.] TH^ CATHOLIC CaNTOKS. 141 

tion." Thereto Zurich replied : " Such a measure is quite 
as hateful as war, and does not bring about a decision so 
promptly as a brisk fight." They therefore prepared for 
war : Zurich eagerly, hurriedly; Berne slowly, unwillingly ; 
this was of disadvantage to both. 

But the five catholic cantons, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Un- 
terwalden and Zug, said to Zurich and Berne : " You 
spread your innovations every day by fraud and by force; 
shall we allow the holy faith of our fathers to be entirely 
banished from the country of our fathers? You make our 
subjects unfaithful, and encourage the rebels. You have 
permitted the insurgents of Eheinthal to seize the Unter- 
waldener bailiff, Kretz, and to keep him prisoner in the 
council-house at Alstetten. You have stripped the abbot 
of St. Gallen of his rights and property. We have asked 
for Confederate justice, and you have denied it to us. We 
wish jfor a reconciliation, and you drive us from free fields 
and markets. Therefore, since you will have it so, let the 
sword decide. God be the judge!" 

Thus said the five cantons, and their banners marched 
at once with eight thousand men towards Zug and into the 
free bailiwicks. There was already a troop of Zurichers 
encamped near Kappel ; it was weak. But the head- 
quarters of Zurich were to follow. The Bernese were sta- 
tioned near Lenzburg, and knew not what to do, as they 
had received no orders. The banners of the five cantons 
advanced (12th Oct., 1531) as far as Kappel ; three hundred 
of the bravest immediately precipitated themselves into 
the ranks of the Zurichers. The rest rushed after. The 
combat was terrible. Too late and too fatigued came the 
chief banner of Zurich over the Albis. With it was Ulric 
Zwingli. There fought Swiss against Swiss with the an- 
cient heroism. Over six hundred Zurichers were slain. 
Under the dead lay the body of Zwingli. The rest fled, 
pursued until night. The victors returned late to the bat- 
tle-field, thanked God, according to the custom of their 
fathers, for the bloody defeat of their vanquished brothers, 
and plundered the deserted camp of Zurich. 

A few days afterwards, however, the heights of Albis 
were again covered with reformed auxiliaries. The Bern- 



142 CAtltOLIC WoRSmP [16S1 

ese took post in numbers near Bremgarten, and pillaged 
the convent of Muri ; on the other side, the evangelicals 
advanced as far as Zug mountain. Several troops of them 
were sent to plunder the convent of Einsiedeln. But John 
Ilug, son of the avoyer of Lucerne, with six hundred 
chosen men, surprised them before break of day (24th Oc- 
tober) on Mount Gubel, near Menzigen, and put them to 
flight after a short battle. 

These defeats spread mourning and terror through the 
city of Zurich ; twenty-six members of the great and little 
councils had lost their lives on the field of battle. The 
reformed Grisons, already on the march, stopped near Uz- 
nach. The evangelicals of Grlarus wished to remain neu- 
tral. The Toggenburgers desired to treat with the catholic 
cantons, protectors of the abbey of St. Gallen. Then Zu- 
rich thought: " We stand alone ; peace is necessary." 

The five cantons, without arrogance, ofiered peace on 
equitable conditions. It was concluded with Zurich on 
the 16th of November, at the farm of Teynikon, below the 
Breitholz; in the open field. Arbitrators were to decide 
afterwards respecting the expenses of the war ; but both 
religious parties were to have equal rights in the common 
bailiwicks. When the Bernese heard this, they marched 
home, and willingly accepted the peace. Many of them 
were still faithful in their hearts to the Koman-catholic 
church. Even the Bernese general, Sebastian of Diesbach, 
returned to the catholic faith a few years afterwards and 
went to Freiburg in Uechtland. 

After the five victorious cantons had made peace with 
Zurich and Berne, they demanded satisfaction from Solo- 
thurn, which had sent auxiliaries to the Bernese. Most 
of the communes of the canton of Solothurn had already 
embraced the evangelical faith, and were therefore willing 
to aid the Bernese. In the capital city, however, the coun- 
cil and citizens were divided, and this gave rise to many 
quarrels and persecutions about doctrine. But when the 
Ave catholic cantons required an indemnity of a thousand 
guilders, or that the Solothurners should return to the 
faith of their fathers, few were willing to pay. Most of 
them again called themselves catholics. In the city itself, 



-1533.] RE-ESTABLISHED IN SOLOTHURN. 143 

the catholics took up arms against the reformed, to compel 
them to abjure the evangelical faith, and came with a 
loaded cannon in fi'ont of the house where the latter were 
even then deliberating. The crashing shot was about to 
be fired. Suddenly a venerable man advanced from the 
furious crowd, placed his breast, full of true patriotism 
before the cannon's mouth, and said: '' If citizens' blood 
must flow, let my blood flow first!" All drew back trem- 
bling when they saw the act of this great Christian hero : 
it was the avoyer Wengi of Solothurn. No blood flowed. 
But the evangelicals of the city, willing to leave every 
thing rather than their beloved JPaith, sacrificed their prop- 
erty and estates, and went into other cities and lands. The 
Eoman-catholic worship was reestablished (1533) in forty- 
four communes of the district, thirty-four of which had 
embraced the evangelical doctrine. 

These were the results of the fratricidal victorv near 
Kappel ; but not all : the abbot of St. Grallen was restored 
to all his rights, and the further spread of the evangelical 
doctrine in the common bailiwicks stopped forever. Fur- 
thermore, the influence of the victors was so preponder- 
ating, that the catholic worship was reinstated by force in 
several places in the common domain. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

GENEVA SEPARATES FROM SAVOY. BERNE SUBDUES VAUD. 

[A. D. 1533 to 1558.] 

Not less violent, at this time, was the excitement re- 
specting church-matters among the people in other districts 
of the Helvetian mountains. In the valleys of the Grisons, 
where no restraint was exercised, some communes em- 
braced the new faith, others retained the old. In Yalais, 
where Thomas Plater preached reform most zealously, the 
evangelical worship had numerous adherents at Sion and 
Leak, In Vaud, along the shores of lake Leman, Laij- 



144 THE COUNTS OF SAVOY. [1633- 

sanne, with the cither cities and most of the village districts, 
separated from the Koman church. Greneva did the same ; 
but with great troubles and commotion. For religious 
discord was then added to the civil disorders which had 
long prevailed in that city. 

Geneva was already renowned as a beautiful and popu- 
lous city, flourishing by the arts, the science, the industry 
and activity of her inhabitants. Twice had this very an- 
cient city of the Allobroges been destroyed in the time of 
the Eoman emperors ; twice had she risen from her ruins. 
Even at this day, two street-pavements are found, one un- 
der another. After the Eomans, the Burgundian kings 
often resided there; afterwards, under the Franks, the 
Burgundian free-men there held their diet. From unre- 
membered times, a bishop thence exercised spiritual do- 
minion over a large territory. He enjoyed a princely title, 
great estates and prerogatives, as well as the right of su- 
premacy over the city. This had formerly belonged to 
the French kings, who conferred it on the bishop. The 
other rights of the kings were exercised by the counts of 
Geneva as bailiffs. By degrees, these counts had made 
their offices hereditary in their families. Not only did 
they consider the whole district of Geneva, excepting what 
belonged to the bishop, as theirs, but they were also the 
deputies or stadtholders of the bishop in the management 
of his temporal rights. Hence arose endless disputes be- 
tween the bishop of Geneva and the counts of Geneva. 
The citizens gained by this dissension. Supporting by 
turns the cause of one or of the other, they obtained new 
privileges and franchises from both. Finally, three parties 
contended for preeminence in that narrow corner of the 
earth : the bishop, the count of Geneva and the burghers 
of the city. A fourth soon made his appearance : the 
neighboring, powerful count of Savoy. The citizens first 
called him to their aid against the count of Geneva, and 
granted to him many of the rights of the latter ; but he 
therefore wished to have them all. He tried to supplant 
the counts of Geneva, and, when this family died out, he 
bought all their estates. Thus he acquired great influence 
in the city- commonwealth. 



-166d.] ALLIAIS'CE WITH COiNrFEDERATES. 14o 

Becoming more and more powerful, so much so as to 
assume the title of dukes, the counts of Savoy became 
more and more dangerous to the citizens. They sooi. p- 
propriated all the power of the bishop, by always, as was 
easy, placing a son of their house in the episcopal chair. 
But, when one of these bishops, after the war of the Swiss 
with Charles the Bold of Burgundy, made (1493), for him- 
self and the city, a treaty of coburghership or defensive 
alliance with the cities of Freiburg and Berne,^ the citi- 
zens unexpectedly acquired in these neighboring Confed- 
erates new sureties for their threatened rights, against the 
powerful dukes and bishops. This had important conse- 
quences. 

One day (in 1517) an evil-disposed student at Geneva 
maliciously cut off the leg of a mulo belonging to the epis- 
copal judge Grrossi. Then he and a troop of wild com- 
rades, who bore ill-will to the judge, caused the mule's leg 
to be carried through all the streets by an idiot, and told 
him to cry : " Who'll buy, who'll buy a piece of the gross 
beast?" Grossi felt doubly angry at this allusion to his 
name and insult to his person. He cited the offenders be- 
fore the bishop's court. The bishop pardoned them all, 
excepting one Pecolat, whom he imprisoned, and another, 
named Berth elier, who fled to Freiburg. Now arose a 
dispute as to the jurisdiction to which Pecolat belonged. 
The city of Geneva succeeded in having him brought be- 
fore her tribunal. The affair was lengthened out, and 
carried before duke, bishop^ archbishop and pope. 

In the mean while, Berthelier was not idle at Freiburg. 
Clothed with full powers by his fellow-citizens, he strength- 
ened the bonds of union between Freiburg and Geneva. 
When, to complete his work, he came back to Geneva un- 
der a safe-conduct (6th February, 1519), and brought the 
compact with Freiburg to the city, the duke was so en- 
raged thereat, that he put to death at Turin some Genevese 
who were travelling through his country. This act of 
vengeance increased the bitterness and open division be- 

* The close compact of Geneva with Freiburg was formed in 1519* 
with Berne, in 1526. 

7 N 



146 THE IIlGrEXOTS.- [1533- 

tween the partisans of the Confederates and those of the 
duke of Savoy. The latter, few in number, were called 
Mamelukes ; the others, Eidsgenossen, or, as they said in 
their French idiom, Huguenots. 

The dispute respecting the compact was carried before 
several Swiss" diets, but without result. The duke so cru- 
elly maltreated the Huguenots, whom he termed rebellious 
subjects, that many fled to Berne and Freiburg. He even 
seized and executed Berthelier. The Savoyard nobility 
were ordered to harass the city in all possible ways. 
Then, to these troubles, was added the dispute about the 
new church-doctrine. Most of the Huguenots were evan- 
gelical-reformed. Even the prior of St. Victor, named 
Bonnivard, was one of the first who preached against the 
pope.* Thereat the duke and bishop redoubled their se- 
verity against the Genevese, so that Berne and Freiburg 
could no longer leave their allies without protection. With 
twelve thousand men, they marched through Yaud to 
Geneva, ravaging as they went (10th Oct., 1530). Then 
depu^;ies from Valais and the ten cantons interposed as 
mediators, persuaded the troops to retire, and peace was 
concluded at St. JuHan (1530). The duke promised to 
respect the rights of Geneva, under penalty of losing the 
whole of Yaud ; on her side, Gleneva agreed to respect the 
rights of the duke, under penalty of forfeiting her alliance 
with the Confederates. 

Peace was reestablished, friendship was not. The exas- 
perated duke secretly continued his persecutions. In the 
city, the parties of catholics and protestants hated one 
another. They made onslaughts against each other ; as- 
sassinations followed. Bat the Huguenots had the upper 
hand. The bishop, frightened by the people, left the city, 
and fixed his seat at Gex. He and the duke of Savoy 
made a sudden assault, to surprise the city with an armed 
force. They were repulsed by the vigilance and courage 
of the excited citizens (1534). The latter immediately 
established the evangelical worship, declared that the 

* He was seized by the duke's emissaries, and carried to the castle of 
Chillon, at the east end of the hike of Geneva, where he was confined for 
six years in a dungeon on i level with the lake. 



-1558.] JOHN CALVTN. 14/ 

bishop's sovereignty had ceased and that their city was an 
independent republic (1536). 

This was a bold and momentous step. It was, however, 
a successful one. At this period John Calvin, a French 
ecclesiastic from Boyon, joined the Genevese. He was a 
wise man, skilled in afPairs of church and state, a zealous 
and often cruel partisan of the evangelical faith. He not 
only established the new worship which William Farrell 
and Anthony Saunier had introduced, but he also repressed 
the extreme corruption of manners by severe discipline, 
and helped to consolidate the new commonwealth by strin- 
gent laws. Such was Calvin's influence, that at last noth- 
ing was done contrary to his will ; such his reputation for 
insight into spiritual things, that, in Switzerland, France 
and Germany, the reformed were called Calvinists, after 
bis name. 

In the mean while, as the exiled Mamelukes and the 
Savoyard nobility of Vaud pressed the city sore, the Ber- 
nese declared war against the duke. of Savoy, because he 
had not observed the treaty of St. Julian. They sent 
seven thousand troops into Yaud (January, 1536) ; within 
eleven days they conquered all from Morat to Geneva, and 
relieved this city, which received them joyfully ; drove 
the bishop away from Lausanne, took possession of his 
property and rights, and made themselves sovereigns of 
the whole of Vaud, much more easily than they had for- 
merly done of Aargau. For the duke of Savoy could 
make but slight resistance, being also engaged in war with 
the king of France, and in great need. The cities and 
communes of Yaud submitted willingly to the Bernese, 
because the yoke of the dukes of Savoy had often borne 
heavily upon them, and because the magistrates of the 
country had cared more for themselves than for the peo- 
ple. 

But Yalais and Freiburg looked with jealous eyes upon 
the conquest of Yaud by Berne. They wished to have a 
share in it. The Yalaisians took possession of the terri- 
tory between their frontiers and the Dranse ; the Freiburg- 
ers took the districts of Rue and Romont. Berne willingly 
allowed this, that she might hold the main part ^f the 



148 l^lJE COUNTS OF GRd^filifiS. [l558- 

country undisturbed and establish herself firmly therein. 
With this purpose, she immediately introduced the re- 
formed service everywhere, placed eight bailiffs over the 
conquered districts, and appointed for her newly-acquired 
territory a separate treasurer, to collect the revenue of the 
state. Only a few places retained their former franchises. 
The city of Lausanne, however, preserved her old import- 
ant privileges, so that she was like a protected city. Twice 
already, in earlier times, had Berne conquered Yaud : 
once in the Burgundian war, when she kept Bex and 
Aigle ; the second time, before the peace of St. Julian, 
when she kept nothing. But now, the third time, she did 
not give back her line booty. 

For a long while, the rich and powerful counts of Gru- 
yeres, who held much land in Yaud, steadfastly refused to 
render homage for their estates to the cities of Berne and 
Freiburg. But, as these counts were burdened with debt 
and in want of money, the cities prudently bought up the 
claims of their creditors (1554). Thus Freiburg acquired 
the signiory of Gruyeres ; Berne, the valleys of E-ouge- 
mont and Oron.* 

Thus Berne doubled the extent of her territory, and by 
her skilful policy in seizing auspicious moments, bj the 
public spirit, thu resolution and determined valor of her 
citizens, became the most powerful city of the whole Con- 
federacy in lands and people. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

RELIGIOUS HATRED IN THE ITALIAN BAILIWICKS, IN ORISONS AND 
EVERYWHERE. DISPUTE ABOUT THE CALENDAR. THE BORRO- 
MEAN LEAGUE. 

[A. D. 1558 to 1586.] 

The city of Geneva, with a little territory outside her 
walls, flourished thenceforward as a republic, and became 

* These form part of the present canton of Vaud. 



-1686.] LELIUS AND FAUSTUS SOCINIUS. 149 

one of the most celebrated cities of Switzerland by her in- 
dustry and science. Nevertheless, the Confederates long 
hesitated to admit her as an allied canton, on account of 
her continual disturbances. Those disturbances were the 
fruits, partly of the new freedom itself, partly of the in- 
flexible severity and ardent religious zeal of John Calvin. 
Calvin pursued with exile, the sword or the stake, every 
one who opposed his doctrine and measures. 

Berne alone held true to Geneva, Geneva to Berne ; in 
1558, they renewed their coburghersliip or mutually defen- 
sive alliance for all time. Geneva found in Berne her 
surest protection against outward and inward troubles ; 
Berne, on her side, found in Geneva a strong fortress 
against Savoy, for holding Vaud in awe, and for reducing 
the Vaudois themselves, in case they wished to reclaim 
ancient franchises which the confederate city was not in- 
clined to allow. 

The religious discord among the Confederates and their 
subjects had, in the mean while, affected many hearts in 
the Italian bailiwicks beyond the St. Gotthard. The num- 
ber of evangelical-reformed was especially great in the 
bailiwick of Locarno ; among them were many of the 
richest and most respected families; Lelius and Faustus 
Sozzini (Socinius) had there spread a much freer doctrine 
in matters of faith than even Zwingli in Zurich or Calvin 
in Geneva. But tlie Sozzini were driven away, and their 
adherents banished or punished with death. In Locarno 
itself, Beccaria afterwards became the principal teacher of 
the evangelicals. The catholic bailiff imprisoned him, but 
a troop of the reformed assailed the castle and released 
Beccaria by force. The bailiff, invested with full powers 
by the seven catholic cantons participating in the govern- 
ment, at last ordered all the evangelicals to attend the 
catholic worship, and banished many from the country. 
" That is contrary to our agreement respecting religious 
equality!" said the evangelical participating cantons. 
"No," replied the catholic cantons, "that agreement does 
not extend to the Italian bailiwicks; here the majority of 
votes decide." And so the persecutions continued. The 
papal nuncio or embassador did his best to increase them. 



N* 



150 THE nuncio's barbarity. [1658- 

Finallj^ the general banishment of the reformed from 
Locarno was decided upon and put in execution (March, 
1555). One hundred and fifty persons were compelled to 
assemble in the council-house and listen to their sentence 
in submissive silence. Suddenly the papal nuncio entered 
the hall, and angrily cried out : " This is too lenient ! 
The exiles must be deprived of their property and estates, 
and of their children also !" But even the deputies of the 
catholic Confederates shuddered at the idea of such bar- 
barity. Much more humanity dwelt in their hearts than 
in the heart of the priest of God. And they said: "We 
never revoke our once pronounced sentence." 

Then the exiles, with their wives and little children, 
went far away from the homes of their fathers, in the 
rigorous season of the year, over inhospitable mountains. 
The evangelical Confederates received them with Christian 
charity. More than a hundred found an asylum in Zurich. 
Among them were several rich and learned men : the 
Orelli, the Mural te, and others, whose families still flourish 
at Zurich. They carried to that city the art of weaving 
silk, established mills and dye-houses, and so enriched her 
by their industry, that the prosperity of Zurich soon be- 
came celebrated even beyond the limits of Switzerland. 

In spite of the church-dissensions, the Confederates 
would probably have returned to their ancient concord, 
had they not lent too ready an ear to the insinuations of 
foreign embassadors. At this same period, religious wars 
desolated France and Germany also; the envoys of the 
sovereigns engaged in these wars sought favor and assist- 
ance from the cantons of their own faith, and excited them 
against the others, and the clergy on both sides did their 
best to inflame the minds of the people. Some of the 
reformed cantons did, indeed, prudently avoid all inter- 
mingling in foreign quarrels ; but not all, and not the 
catholic cantons. These last were influenced by the advice 
of the papal nuncio, and not less by the gold which the 
French embassador lavished in order to procure Swiss 
mercenaries for the service of his king. In 1553 they 
made, with king Henry II. of France, the first formal 
agreement (called Capitulation) respecting Swiss regimeiits 



-1586.] DUKE EMANUEL PHILIBERT. 151 

to be sent into the French service, supplied ten thousand 
men in one year, and considerable reinforcements annually. 
The Swiss have always fought with glory upon foreign 
soil, though but the mercenaries of foreign masters. Their 
blood did not flow for their fatherland, their deeds do not 
belong to the history of that fatherland. Let foreigners 
praise the exploits they paid for. 

The papal nuncio especially labored without relaxation 
to injure the reformed cantons. He sowed discord every- 
where in the name of religion. He even attempted to 
reestablish the dominion of Savoy in Geneva, and perhaps 
in Yaud also. Some of the reformed cantons, jealous of 
the preponderance of Berne, would willingly have seconded 
him in this. But the design failed. For when the duke 
of Savoy did, in fact, reclaim Vaud, in 1564, Berne, pru- 
dently avoiding an encounter with a too powerful enemy, 
prevented greater losses by the voluntary surrender of the 
little district of Gex, and of all the territory beyond the 
lake of Geneva. In exchange, duke Emanuel Philibert, 
by the treaty of Lausanne, renounced his pretensions upon 
Vaud, and the king of France guaranteed this treaty, but 
with the express reserve of the ancient franchises which 
Yaud had enjoyed under Savoy. Geneva, however, re- 
mained long exposed to the attacks of Savoy. But the 
necessity of constantly defending her political existence 
against the intrigues and great power of her enemy, de- 
veloped new strength in this small but courageous republic, 
always manfully supported by Berne. At last (1581), 
Zurich also entered into perpetual coburghership with the 
Genevese. 

Of all the defenders of the Roman See, none ever ex- 
ercised so great an ascendancy in the Confederacy as car- 
dinal Charles Borromeo. Seldom also do we see a man 
more capable, by his talents and his virtues, of executing 
great enterprises, than this young prelate, active, pious, 
burning with zeal for his faith. To arrest, by eternal bar- 
riers, the spreading of the new doctrine, to strengthen 
against the storms of time the ancient catholic church, 
already deeply shaken, was the task to which he devoted his 
life. With this object he abolished many abuses in Italv, 



152 GREAT ASCENDANCY OF [l55a 

reformed the manners of the clergy, and made numerous 
journeys. He came into Switzerland also. But what he 
did here was not all for the advantage of the Confederates. 

When in Yaltelina, where the Grisons wished to estab- 
lish reformed schools, he labored secretly, but assiduously, 
against them. In Grisons he would willingly have armed 
catholics against evangelicals ; but, excepting the court of 
the bishop of Coire, the free sons of the highlands received 
him coldly. They were wearied of reUgious disputes, in 
which, as among the Swiss, the selfish interests of the rich 
families were mixed up. Thereby the noble and innocent 
baron John Planta of Khezuns was brought to the scaffold 
(1572) and many an honest man lost honor and country, 
property and life. Even in our day men talk in the 
Grison mountains of the formidable tribunals of Thusis 
and Coire, of the armed assemblages of the people, and of 
the venality so common in those days of corruption. A 
law passed (1570) at last put a stop to that impudent am- 
bition which obtained honors by money and intrigues, 
and another (1574) forbade armed assemblages in the 
country. For the love of justice, among the Grisons, was 
allied to the love of unshackled liberty. A small number 
only of noble and ambitious families cared little for liberty 
or justice. 

When cardinal Charles Borromeo came to the Con- 
federates in Switzerland, he received a most hearty 
welcome from the catholic cantons. As they did but little 
for scholastic instruction, he established a priests'-school, 
or seminary, for young Swiss, at Milan. He also decided 
that a papal nuncio should always reside in Switzerland. 
This justly displeased the evangelicals ; they feared that 
6uch a representative of the Koman court would constantly 
interfere in civil matters by spiritual means, produce dis- 
cord, and attempt to tyrannize. Once, when a nuncio 
came to Berne in the winter of 1580, the government 
ordered him out of the city, and the boys in the streets 
pelted him with snow-balls. 

The strife between catholics and protestants, at this 
time, occupied nearly the whole world. Spain, Savoy and 
>hc emperor were the most jealous partisans of the pope. 



-1586.J CJAt^niNAL SORHOMEO. 153 

But the Huguenots, or reformed, almost triumphed in 
France. The Roman court attempted to persuade the 
whole catholic world to undertake a war for life and death 
against the evangelicals. They called this a holy war. In 
Switzerland, cardinal Borromeo earnestly urged the cath- 
olics to form a strong league among themselves for the 
support of their church. This increased the anger and 
animosity of the evangelicals. Men's minds were embit- 
tered against each other. Excesses were committed on 
both sides. It went so far that the reformed refused to 
receive the newly-improved calendar which then appeared 
(1582), because it had been perfected by order of a pope. 
The evangelicals were so distrustful of every thing, even 
of what was good, which came from Rome, that they pre- 
ferred to adhere to the defective reckoning of the old cal- 
endar. This almost occasioned a bloody civil war. 

The dispute about the old and new calendars induced 
the seven catholic cantons to favor the cardinal's projected 
league for the support of the Roman church. On the 10th 
of October, 1586, deputies from Lucerne, Uri, Schw3'^z, Un- 
terwalden, Zug, Solothurn and Freiburg assembled in the 
city of Lucerne, and there swore to the league, which was 
called the Golden or Borromean. It had better have been 
called the Bloody. It separated Confederates from Con- 
federates still further. 



CHAPTER XXXYI. 

INSURRECTION AT MUHLHAUSEN. THE RHODES OF APPENZELV 
SEPARATE. THE DUKE OF SAVOY TRIES TO SURPRISE GENEVA. 

[A. D. 1587 to 1608.] 

From this period, the catholic cantons were more closely 
united with foreigners than with the Swiss of evangelical 
faith. The foreign powers were pleased with this, because 
they knew how to take advantage of the division. Then 
came the embassador of Spain and scattered gold, and 
made a treaty for his king (1587) with Lucerne, Uri, 



154 t^HENCii BATTLE- t'lELDS. [l58'?}j 

Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug and Freiburg. Then camej! 
the papal nuncio and preached war against the reformed! 
or Huguenots in France ; and more than eight thou-j 
sand catholic Swiss marched to take part in that foreign] 
civil strife. Then came messengers from the Huguenots! 
and preached war in defence of the evangelical faith^ 
in France; and thousands of reformed Swiss and Grisonsj 
marched to the bloody French battle-fields, while the can- 
tonal governments pretended to» know nothing about the 
matter. On foreign soil, for vile hire, Swiss murdered 
their own brothers in honor of God, as followers of Jesus. 
Such was the result of religious hate. 

Thisevil spirit spread its poison every where. Even 
the most insignificant quarrels became the cause of great 
misfortunes, as was the case at Muhlhausen (Mulhouse). 

The city of Muhlhausen, in Alsace, is of very ancient^ 
origin. For about five centuries it was, like most of the 
cities of Switzerland, a free city of the German empire; 
for one or two hundred years it had had a defensive alli- 
ance with Bale, then with Berne, Freil5urg and Solothurr 
finally (since 1515) it had been an ally of the Confederate' 
with seat and voice in the diets. Now it happened that 
the Finninger family of this city had and lost a law-suit 
with other citizens respecting a piece of wood-land. In 
their anger, the Finningers appealed to the Austrian gov- 
ernment at Ensisheim, then to the Diet of the Confederates. 
And, as the Catholic Swiss were told that this was a good 
opportunity to bring Muhlhausen back to the old faith, 
they embraced the cause of the Finningers and threatened 
the city-council of Muhlhausen with the disruption of the 
ancient alliance. The city-council thereupon applied to 
the evangelical cantons, who decided in their favor. At 
once, the catholic cantons and Appenzell sent to Muhl- 
hausen the treaty of alliance with the seals torn off. The 
Finninger party made a disturbance at this, gained over 
the people, and deposed the city-council as having occa- 
sioned the rupture with the Confederates. The evange- 
lical cantons wished to mediate and settle the matter ami- 
cably, but were not listened to; and when they threatened 
to restore the old order of things by force, the citizens 



1603.] LAKDAMMANK MEGGELIN". 155 

irmed, and obtained reinforcements of Austrian soldiers. 
The reformed Confederates immediately sent troops, under 

he lead of general d'Erlach ; six hundred Balese in ad- 
vance. Heavy artillery thundered from the city walls. 
^n the middle of the night, the Swiss assailed and forced 
the gate. There were combats and massacres in all the 
streets ; the citizens were conquered ; the foreign garrison 
was disarmed and sent away, and quiet restored by the de- 
capitation of tbe principal insurgents. But from that year 
(1587) Muhlhausen lost her alliance with the catholic Con- 
federates, and never again recovered the right of voting in 
the Diet. 

Shortly afterwards the canton of Appenzell was threat- 
-^ined with no less serious calamities. Here, evangelicals 
,nd catholics had hitherto lived with one another; the 
:}vangelicals being more numerous in the Outer Ehodes, 
the catholics in the Inner and in the chief town Appenzell. 
Now, the capuchins came into the country, and secretly 
"^reached that the reformed must be brought back to the 
^^tholic church by force; the landammann Meggelin, a 

..alous partisan of the ancient faith, wished to make a be- 
ginning. He cited twenty-seven reformed young men 
to answer before the assembly of the two councils, and 
caused the council-hall to be surrounded by catholic peas- 
ants. In case the twenty-seven would not submit, he was 
to give a signal from the windows, the council were to re- 
tire immediately, and the peasants to fall upon the young 
recusants. But he had not managed well. When the 
men would not submit, and he was hastening to the win- 
dow, the lords of the council to the door, the seven and 
twenty produced the arms they had concealed under their 
cloaks, and so terrified the landammann that he shouted 
from the window : " Peace ; disperse I" So the peasants 
dispersed, and the twenty -seven retired without injury. 
That day (14 May, 1587), was the beginning of many dis- 
turbances. 

From that time the parties harassed and persecuted each 
other bitterly. The reformed were oppressed in the Inner, 
the catholics in the Outer Ehodes. Prisoners were made, 
more than once the tocsin was sounded ; more than once 



156 LANDAMMANN tanner. [1587- 

arms were seized. Enlightened patriots, however, hap- 
pily prevented a civil war. Finally, when concord could 
not tfe reestablished in the councils, nor in the parishes ot 
meetings of the communes, nor in the general assemblies, 
the intervention of the Confederates was invoked. But 
the Confederates, unhappily, were rather partisans than 
judges. The catholics supported the catholics, the re- 
formed supported the reformed. At last, the Appenzell- 
ers said: "This will not restore peace; the country must 
be divided and each division have its own faith, its own 
magistrates, and its own tribunal." 

This did in fact take place after ten years of troubles, 
and the act of division was signed on the 8th of Septem- 
ber, 1597. The land and rights, the banners and seals, 
even the arms in the arsenal, were divided between the 
Outer and Inner Rhodes. The evangelicals established 
themselves in the Outer Rhodes, and altogether numbered 
6322 persons; the catholics dwelt in the Inner Rhodes, 
and altogether numbered 2782 persons. But the two, -al- 
though divided, as were Ob- and Nid-walden, remained one 
single canton, in the circle of the Confederates, as did Un- 
terwalden. 

This satisfied everybody, except landammann Tanner 
of the Inner Rhodes. He was an irreconcilable enemy of 
the evangelicals of the Outer Rhodes, and did not wish to 
be at peace with them ; he constantly excited fresh troubles 
and disorders, and hoped to persuade the catholic cantons 
to compel the Outer Rhodes to yield all their prerogatives 
to the six or seven catholics living there. Tanner did not 
succeed in this, and finally became so odious to his fbllow- 
citizens on account of his actions and opinions, that he lost 
all his property, estates and dignities, begged his bread 
from place to place, and died miserably in a cow-house in 
Thurgau. 

It was indeed fortunate for Switzerland that the kings 
and princes, busied with constant wars, could not interfere 
in the domestic troubles of the Swiss. Otherwise, her inde- 
pendence would probably have been endangered more than 
once. But Spain and Milan were at war with France and 
the Grerman emperor with the Turks. Each desired aux- 



^1603.] HENRY IV. OF FRANCE. 157 

iliaries from the Swiss. But the Confederates, either be* 
cause they would not trust each other, or because one part 
preferred one prince and the other part another, held thern- 
seK^es aloof. Thej frequently endeavored, by friendly in- 
tervention, to reconcile the king of France and the king of 
Spain. Zurich besought the emperor. Lucerne besought 
the pope, to turn their hearts to thoughts of peace. These 
attempts had small success. 

Thereat, and because Henry IV. of France was beloved 
for his virtues and valor by both catholics and protestants, 
and because he promised to pay to Switzerland 400,000 
crowns annually in settlement of outstanding debts, and, 
moreover, sent a million of ready money by his embassa- 
dor, all hearts were turned to him. And they made a new 
league with him in 1602. 

This displeased the Spaniards, as well as the pope and 
the duke of Savoy. All three hated the valiant king 
Henry IV. And the duke of Savoy thought this the 
best time to get possession of the beautiful city of Ge- 
neva. So he secretly sent his general Brunaulieu and his 
soldiers, with some Spaniards, to surprise the city in the 
midst of peace. In a dark night (between the 11th and 
12th of December, 1602), they advanced to the walls, ap- 
plied their scaling ladders, clambered up and thought 
themselves the winners. But a Grenevese sentinel heard 
the noise and discharged his musket. The watchman drop- 
ped the port-cullis; the citizens were awakened, ran to the 
walls in arms, with shouts of: "The enemy! the enemy!" 
killed those who had entered the city, and threw down the 
scaling ladders. The Savoyards retired with considerable 
loss. Thirteen of their nobles were made prisoners and 
executed the next day. 

Berne and Zurich immediately sent auxiliaries into the 
city, and compelled the duke to make a treaty of peace 
(Ilth July, 1608), by which he agreed never more to sta- 
tion troops within four miles of Geneva, to build no fort- 
ress there, and never again to attack the city. Since that 
time the Genevese annually celebrate the night of the Esca- 
lade as a festival of joy and triumph. 

* P 



158 THE BISHOVP OF BALE. [1608- 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

TROUBLES IN BIENNE. CONSPIRACY AGAINST GENEVA. THE BLACK 
DEATH. COMMENCEMENT OF CIVIL WAR IN ORISONS. 

[A. D. 1603 to 1618.] 

At the same time that the Genevese were successfully 
defending their youthful liberty against the attempts of 
the duke of Savoy, the people in Valais fought their last 
bitter fight about religious matters. Here the reformed 
were inferior in numbers; therefore they succumbed. 
They had already been merely tolerated for more than 
fifty years, in virtue of an agreement made in 1551, but at 
last were no longer allowed. The bishop and council or- 
dered them to sell their property and to leave their coun- 
try. In vain did the evangelical cantons intercede (1603). 
The catholic cantons, Lucerne at their head, with much 
expenditure of money, but behind all the nuncio of the 
Roman court, insisted, on the other hand, that the re- 
formed and their clergy should be driven out. And they 
were driven out and saw the land of their fathers no more. 

So the citizens of Bienne had a strife with their bishop. 
Bienne is an oid city, pleasantly situated on her lake. 
She had long been subject to the counts of Neuchatel with 
peculiar privileges ; later (in 1274), she had been trans- 
ferred to the bishop of Bale,* who, in order to gain her 
affection, had conferred on her the franchises of a free im- 
perial city. With these franchises, the city soon became 
flourishing ; her arms were victorious in many a feud, and 
the dwellers in the valley of Erguel followed her banner. 
To protect her rights, she early (1279) entered into alli- 
ance and coburghership with Berne, then with Solothurn 
also (1882), and a century later (1496) with Freiburg. 
She had a good understanding with all the Confederates, 
and was therefore honored as an aUied city. At last 
(1554) she tried to purchase all the bishop's rights over 

* The ten-itory subject to the bishop of Bale was .entirely distinct frooa 
iimt subject to the city of Bale. 



-1618.] HECTOll Of BEROLDINGK]^. loP 

her citizens and over the district of Erguel, so that she 
might become the capital of a fine territory. But the pro- 
ject failed and occasioned many calamities and a quarrel 
between Bienne and the bishop of Bale. Finally (1610) 
the dispute was settled by Confederate arbitrators : Bienne, 
continuing to render homage to the bishop as prince of the 
country, was to form no new alliance without his consent 
and that of the Confederates ; the bishop, retaining his 
rights over the city, was compelled again to confirm the 
franchises of Bienne and to permit the troops of Erguel to 
march under the banj;ier of the city, in war, as before. 

We should speak of many other disturbances and dis- 
cords in those times ; of the conspiracy of two Frenchmen, 
Du Terreil and La Basside, who wished to surprise the 
city of Geneva by treachery (1609) and deliver her to the 
duke of Savoy, but were betrayed and executed; of the 
troubles in Thurgau (1610) where drunken peasants at a 
wedding in Gachnang maltreated the signior Hector of 
Beroldingen, demolished his chapel, and stoned the bailiff's 
lieutenant, which occasioned so serious and wide-spread a 
dispute between the evangelical and catholic cantons, that 
the latter would no longer sit in Diet with the Zurichers, 
and both parties threatened war, until the successful inter- 
vention of the other Confederates. But greater and more 
terrible misfortunes claim our attention. 

The plague broke out in Switzerland. This horrid dis- 
ease was called the " black death." It came from distant 
countries to Bale (1610), where it killed nearly four thou- 
sand persons. On the next year, it penetrated deeper into 
the land : to Berne and Solothurn and Freiburg. In Zu- 
rich, five thousand persons died ; nearly two thousand in 
the country of Glarus ; even more in Toggenburg and Ap- 
penzell. At Sarnen in Obwalden, two hundred and eighty 
bodies were buried in one grave. In Thurgau the black 
death depopulated whole villages, and the fields remained 
untilled, because there were no hands to cultivate them. 
When the dead were counted in Thurgau, the number was 
83,584. Nearly one-fourth of the people were buried, 
everywhere. 

The hand of the black death reached as far as the high 



160 HERCULES OF SALIS. [l60S. 

valleys of Orisons. Bat other scourges, the work of man 
himself, then desolated those valleys. 

Since the king of Spain had become master of Milan 
and of Lombardy, he had secretly tried to obtain also Val- 
telina, a country subject to Grisons, that he might border 
on Austria by Tyrol. For Austria was the best ally of 
Spain, and could send no aid to Milan except through the 
territory of Venice or Grisons. Therefore the governor 
of Milan, following his king's instructions, constantl v inter- 
fered in tlie affairs of Valtelina, where many disputes ex- 
isted among the people, especially on matters of religion. 
For since Grisons (1552) had allowed to the Valteliners 
the free exercise of the evangelical worship, the inhabit- 
ants of many communes had adopted it, and there was 
enmity against them on the part of the catholics. 

The king of France, being inimical to Austria and 
Spain, warned the Grisons of the designs of Spain. The 
republic of Venice, which feared the union of the Austrian 
and Spanish forces, did the same. Venice, as well as 
France and Spain, sent embassadors to Grisons, to gain 
the chiefs and principal men by promises and presents. 
This gratified the lords ; some of them were interested for 
France, others for Spain, few for their own country. At 
the head of the Spanish party was Kudolf Planta; at the 
head of the French, Hercules of Salis. The former, in the 
beginning, had the power and most of the catholic com- 
munes on his side. The Spanish governor of Milan built 
a fortress on a hill by the lake of Como, and called it Fu- 
entes, from his own name (1604). Thence he looked far 
into the valleys of Chiavemra and Valtelina ; he thus held 
in his hand the key of the principal Grison pass.* 

This terrified the Grison people and occasioned much 
excitement. Each party blamed the other. The com- 
munes raised their banners and established a criminal court 
at Coire, to try the traitors. As happens in popular dis- 
turbances, the innocent and guilty were imprisoned, ban- 
ished and stripped of their property; George Beeli, the 

* The pass of the Splugenberg. The road over the Bernardin, the 
other important pass from the Grison territory ir to Italy, was constr?ioted 
more recently. 



-1618.] RUDOLF PLANTA. 161 

Austrian bailiff at Castels, and Caspar Baselga, formerly 
captain for the prince-bishop at Furstenberg, were be- 
headed on the common place of execution in the city of 
Coire (1607). They had served the Spaniards more faith- 
fully than their fatherland. The Confederacy asked in 
vain for their lives. Beeli acknowledged his guilt on the 
scaffold and said : " The citizen of a free country ceases to 
be a freeman, when he attaches much value to the favor 
of foreign princes !" 

A new criminal court at Ilanz shortly afterwards miti- 
gated many of the sentences. But party hate was not 
mitigated. Spanish and French gold fomented it. One 
recruited in favor of Venice and France, another in favor 
of Milan. Each wished for vengeance, for foreign pensions 
and presents, and to become great. New tribunals were 
assembled, new injustices committed, new enmities excited ; 
at last the Spanish, as well as the Venetian, alliance was 
rejected. Finally, communes stood against communes, 
brothers against brothers. In the valley of Engadine, the 
divided people marched with arms into the field ; at the 
head of the Spanish party was Augustin Travers, Eudolf 
Planta's brother-in-law ; at the head of the Venetian party, 
Anthony Travers, Augustin's brother. Some men were 
already killed on both sides by cannon shot, when the 
wives and sisters rushed wailing between their brothers 
and husbands, and pacified the raging combatants. 

But the flame thus quenched by the love of tender 
women was soon rekindled by the fanaticism of hard- 
hearted priests. At Bergun, in a wild mountain-valley 
among glaciers, the evangelical clergy of the country as- 
sembled for church business (1618). Some of them said 
that the governor of Milan had sent large sums into the 
land to procure the acceptance of the Spanish treaty, and 
that, if he did not succeed, he meant to excite a rebellion 
in Valtelina, that he might overwhelm all the evangelicals 
in one fearful pool of blood. 

When this was reported throiigh the country, the fright- 
ened people rose; first in Engadine, whence Eudolf 
Planta was compelled to flee into Tyrol. A reformed 
pastor, George Jenatsch, marched against him with aa 

o* 



162 ZAMBRA AND RUSCA. [1618- 

armed force from Samaden. A criminal court was assem- 
bled at Thusis, and conducted with great cruelty by z'e- 
formed pastors. Eudolf Planta was there declared an 
outlaw, as was his brother Pompey. There John Flugi, 
bishop of Coire, who had fled, was sentenced to lose prop- 
erty and life ; Augustin Travers was banished in perpetuity ; 
many others were proscribed and punished ; most severely 
Nicholas Eusca, arch-priest of Badano and Yaltelina, and 
John Baptist Prevost, surnamed Zambra, landammann of 
Pregall. Eusca, a pious catholic priest, although on the 
rack he steadfastly asserted his innocence of any Spanish 
conspiracy, died in prison, poisoned, as was said. His 
body was buried by the executioner. And the landam- 
mann Zambra, an infirm old man of seventy-four, was be- 
headed with the sword, because he acknowledged, under 
torture, that he had received pay and presents from Spain 
as well as from France. 

The blood of Zambra and Eusca cried to Heaven. Now 
came days of terror and lamentation over Ehetia. Woe 
to the people who pretend to execute justice with arms in 
their hands ! 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION OF PLURS. MASSACRE IN VALTELINA. 
CIVIL WAR AMONG THE GRISONS. 

[A, D. 1618 to 1621.] 

Natural calamities preceded those which the passions 
of men soon occasioned. 

In the valley of Ohiavenna, which Grisons governed by 
bailiffs, as she did Yaltelina and Bormio, at the foot of the 
mountain of Conto, lay the rich town of Plurs, with many 
churches, palaces and pleasure-gardens, like a beautiful 
city. Many trades were there pursued, and, among other 
things, more than twenty thousand pounds of silk were 
manufactured there yearly. 

But it happened that, on the 4th of September, 1618, 



-1621.J SLIDE OF MOUNT CONTO. 163 

after many days of heavy rain, a portion of the soil of 
mount Conto slid and covered several vineyards. The 
siiepherds hastened to Plurs to warn the inhabitants, and 
said: "The mountain has shown large cracks for many 
years; the cows often run from it with loud lowings." 
Others came and said: "In the neighboring villages, the 
bees liave deserted their hives in swarms, and have fallen 
dead from the air to the ground." The people of Plurs 
did not regard these warnings. 

Suddenly, at nightfall, the earth resounded dismally 
and to a great distance. Then ensued the silence of death. 
The bed of the Maira was dry for two hours. When the 
morning came, the sky was seen to be wonderfully ob« 
scured by dust and vapor. The rich town of Plurs and 
the village of Cilano were buried beneath the fallen sum- 
mit of mount Conto. Heaps of rocks are piled hundreds 
of feet above the dwellings, and form a vast tomb, in 
which lie the bodies of twenty-five hundred victims. 

This filled neighboring Yaltelina with horror. But men 
quickly forgot the misfortunes of their fellows; sedition 
and the desire to avenge the death of pious priest Eusca, 
soon displaced all their feelings. The whole of the Grison 
country, likewise, shuddered at the destruction of Plurs. 
But party-hate forgot it as quickly. Here, the relatives 
of the unfortunates condemned by the tribunal of Thusis, 
cried for vengeance against the injustice of the French 
party ; there, the catholic communes loudly accused the 
reformed with wishing to extirpate the ancient faith from 
the mountains of their fatherland ; the banished called for 
assistance to the Confederates, to the house of Austria and 
to the Spaniards in Milan. 

Many of the Grey league, especially the Lugnetzers, 
once more raised their banners and marched upon Coire, 
to obtain justice; the Engadiners, Brettigauers and others 
of the French party, stood in arms against them. When 
they came hand to hand, and some had been slain, the 
people of the other high -jurisdictions forcibly intervened 
and instituted at Coire an impartial tribunal (June, 1619), 
which mitigated the severe sentences of Thusis and re- 
called the banished of Planta's party. 



164 JACOB KOBUSTELLI. [1618- 

This moderation again embittered the people of Enga-^ 
dine, Munsterthal and Davos. They marched once more 
with their banners to Coire, and declared the sentences ot 
the court void. In vain did Thomas of Schauenstein, 
baron of Haldestein, go amicably to their camp, exhort 
them to abstain from violence, and propose: "That, to 
pacify the country, the chiefs of both the Planta and of 
the Salis parties should be excluded from all offices for 
twenty or thirty years." This pleased no one. The armed 
men decided rather to expel from the country the embas- 
sadors of foreign powers, ae the authors of all the troubles. 
They drove away the judges at Coire, as well as their troops 
entrenched near Keichenau, and established a new criminal 
court at Davos. The sentences of Coire were not only 
confirmed, but even aggravated, and the recently-returned 
exiles were again banished. Here, as at Thusis, it was 
the reformed ecclesiastics who principally instigated this 
pernicious severity. 

Thereat the banished brothers, Rudolf and Pompey 
Planta, went to the archduke of Austria to invite an armed 
invasion of their country. They enlisted unemployed 
soldiers in Etschland ; and their brother-in-law, Jacob Ro- 
bustelli, stirred up the Yalteliners, and got under his ban- 
ners many vagabonds from the Milanese. 

In the night of 19th July, 1620, Jacob Robustelli, with 
his bloodthirsty hordes, descended into the valley of Yal- 
telina. There the conspiracy for the murderous destruc- 
tion of all the reformed in the country was ripe. The 
village of Tirano, chief place of the valley, was silently 
surrounded. Four musket-shots gave the signal. The 
massacre began. The tocsins howled. From village to 
village, the reformed were beaten down, strangled, shot, 
stoned to death, and their bodies thrown into the waves of 
the Adda. Neither women, nor infants, nor old men were 
spared. Some had their noses, their ears, their cheeks cut 
away; the bowels of some were torn out; gunpowder was 
forced into the throats of others and fired. A butcher 
boasted that he had killed eighteen persons. The head 
of the reformed pastor of Tirano was stuck on a pike and 
placed in his pulpit. No sacred thing remained u nprofaned, 



-1621.] KICUOtAS Of uvLU^isn. 166 

After several days of massacre, Jacob Robustelli assumed 
Oie chief command in Valtelina ; Bormio united with him; 
Oiiavenna, alone, remained faithful to the Grisons. But 
the latter, divided among themselves, were still more so 
after these doings. The catholic communes of the Grey 
league, persuaded by their priests and the heads of the 
Spanish party, refused to send troops against the insur- 
gents in Yaltelina. On the other hand, from several high- 
jurisdictions of the leagues of God's-house and the Ten 
Jurisdictions, nearly two thousand men passed the moun- 
tains under command of Ulysses Salis, Hercules' son, and 
John Guler. While these were advancing, the Plantas 
led Austrian troops, under General Baldiron, from Tyrol 
into the Grison district of Munsterthal, and threatened to 
keep possession until the exiles were recalled ; and over 
Chiavenna came Milanese soldiers in aid of the Yalte- 
liners. The Grison troops, already in possession of half 
of Yaltelina, were compelled to retire before superior 
forces and await the assistance of the Confederates, which 
had been called for. 

But as the Grisons, so were the Swiss divided. When 
Berne sent general Nicholas of Mullinen with two thousand 
men towards Khetia, the catholic cantons closed the way 
against him, near Mellingen in Aargau. By a circuit, he 
reached Zurich, where colonel Jacob Steiner joined him 
with a thousand men. When they wished to cross the 
March, the Schwyzers rose in a body against them. By 
another circuit they reached Grisons. Thence, united with 
the Grison troops, they marched upon Bormio and arrived 
victorious at Tirano ; but the catholic banners of the Grey 
league would not go with them. Before Tirano they had 
a bloody fight with the Spanish troops and the Yalteliner 
insurgents (11th Sept., 1620). There the valiant Nicholas 
of Mullinen died the death of a hero, and all the Bernese 
officers, excepting one, fell with him under the walls of 
Tirano. Fluri Sprecher, one of the Grison colonels, also 
fell, as did many others. But Tirano remained uncon- 
quered. And as the powder, lead and matches of the 
army began to fail, it marched back over the mountaina 
into Grisons. 



166 GEORGE JENATSCH. _ fl62l 

Here Pompey Planta had in the mean while put in/ 
movement the Grey league, for the protection of whicl/ 
fifteen hundred men had come from the catholic canto i?3 
under lead of colonel John Conrad Beroldingen of Uri, and 
encamped near Reichenau, two leagues from Ooire. They 
talked of making the Grey league a fourteenth cantou of 
the Confederacy, of giving Yaltelina to it alone and s'epa- 
rating it from the rest of Grisons. Such a rupture af old 
friendly relations greatly disturbed all well-meaning peo- 
ple. They unitedly demanded a reconciliation, obtained 
the recall of the forei^'n embassadors who had been ex- 
pelled, and even submission to the Confederates. But the 
French embassador, when he came again into the country, 
renewed his former intrigues and. made a party for France. 
The Spanish governor of Milan, on his side, sent emissa- 
ries with gold, to stir up the great lords and the communes 
against France. The papal nuncio, also, excited the cath- 
olic communes against the evangelical. The deputies of 
the Confederates, instead of restoring peace, quarrelled 
bitterly among themselves, so that they returned home 
without settling any thing. The Bernese army followed 
them. 

Thereat discord and hatred increased in the land. 
George Jenatsch, formerly a reformed pastor, now a man 
of war, with some soldiers, surprised Pompey Planta in 
the castle of Rietberg and slew him. Then he assembled 
the banners of Engadine, Bergun and Munsterthal, with 
them vanquished the troops of the catholic cantons in the 
Grey league, and after a seven hours' fight, drove them 
over the mountains back into Uri (11th April, 1621). 
With defeated Conrad Beroldingen fled also the abbot of 
Disentis, Sebastian of Castelberg, conscience-stricken on 
account of the Yaltelina massacre. The Grey league, sur- 
prised and overpowered, was compelled to give up its alli- 
ance with Milan. 

Fresh negotiations were opened with Spain and Austria 
for the restitution of Yaltelina. But neither Spain nor 
Austria was in earnest. They wished to hold Yaltelina, 
Chiavenna and Bormio, and even Lower Engadine in ad- 
dition, that they might always in future have an open 



1621.] GENERAL BAI.DIRON. 16? 

communication between Tyrol and Milan, for rnutual help 
against the French. At last the people of several com- 
rnanes, wearied by these lengthened negotiations, seized 
their arms in wild disorder, and marched against Bormio 
and Valtelina, to subdue the country bj their own power. 
They did not succeed, and, beaten by the Spaniards, re- 
turned home again with loss and shame. 

This ill-advised expedition of the people, undertaken 
while their deputies were still negotiating with the arch- 
duke of Austria, greatly excited the anger of this prince. 
"Since you wish for war, you shall have war I" said he, 
and ordered his troops to march against Grisons. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE GRISONS ARE BROUGHT UNDER THE AUSTRIAN YOKE. 
[A. D. 1621 to 1630.] 

On an autumn-day (1621) powerful forces penetrated 
from all sides into the land of the Grisons. Over the 
mountains and through the valleys of Tyrol came many 
thousands of Austrians, whom Eudolf Planta guided into 
his own fatherland. The imperial general Baldiron put 
to the sword all who opposed him ; slaying and burning, 
he subjugated the whole league of the Ten jurisdictions, 
disarmed the people, and compelled them, surrounded by 
his troops, to swear fealty to the house of Austria on their 
knees. With more than seven thousand Spaniards and 
foreigners, the duke of Feria came over from Italy, drove 
out the valiant garrison at Chiavenna, and took possession 
of the country. When the soldiers of Zurich, who were 
posted near Maienfeld, saw this overpowering force, they 
went home. 

Then general Baldiron practised unprecedented cruelties 
in the league of the Ten jurisdictions. He was called the 
new Holofernes. No life or property remained safe from 
his soldiers. The peasants were treated like cattle. An 



168 THE BRETTiaAttEKS. [l62l- 



imperial ensign rode up a mountain on the back of a re- 
spectable countryman, whom a soldier drove from behind. 
"This is the way to tame these wild peasants!" said the 
ensign. Many capuchins came with the troops, and tried 
to make the people catholics. The reformed clergy were 
ejected by the soldiers. Seventy-five churches were soon 
without pastors. The bishop of Coire was greatly pleased 
thereat. 

Then said the valiant people in Brettigau, when the 
soldiers tried to force them to attend the worship of the 
capuchins: "This is too much! If we must lose our 
country and our liberty, let us at least save our souls !" 
And they fled into the woods, which became their arsenals. 
There they cut clubs, into which they drove large nails ; 
of their knives they made daggers, of their scythes spears. 
Then, on Palm Sunday (1622) they rushed forth with loud 
shouts, surprised the garrison and camp of the Austrians, 
and slew about four hundred men, took many prisoners, 
and drove the rest out of the land. They marched in force 
to the city of Maienfeld and besieged the Austrians who 
had taken refuge there. They also besieged Baldiron with 
his Spaniards and Austrians in Coire. At the success of 
the valiant Brettio^auers, all the Grisons of the Ten iuris 
dictions boldly rose, with warlike Eudolf of Salis, landam- 
mann Peter Guler of Davos, and Thuring Enderli of 
Maienfeld at their head. To them hastened the friends of 
liberty from the rest of Grisons and from Switzerland, 
especially the valiant Appenzellers. Other Swiss sent 
money. Baldiron retired with shame. The Grisons said 
to the Diet of the Confederates: "Stand by us, when the 
enemy returns !" But the Confederates, as usual, quar- 
relled among themselves and sent no help. 

Cruel Baldiron did in fact return with fresh forces (July, 
1622). He led ten thousand soldiers over the mountains. 
Old men, women and children were massacred by the furi- 
ous enemy. There was fighting in the valleys, there was 
fighting above the clouds on the highest Alps. But the 
overpowering forces of the enemy conquered. The last 
combat took place (5 Sept.) in Brettigau itself, nearRasch- 
nals, on Aquasana plain. Here, when after a bloody fight| 



-1680.] WOE TO THE CONQUERED! 169 

the little troop of Grisons was broken and yielded, thirty 
men of Brettigau stood firm ; unwilling to survive their 
country's precious liberty, they devoted themselves to a 
glorious death. They raised their clubs, with bowed heads 
they rushed impetuously into the ranks of the Austrians, 
fought terribly in the thick crowd and fell, man after man, 
like heroes, surrounded by the bodies of numerous ene- 
mies. The banners of the city of Coire and of the Grey 
league arrived' too late to help. When from a distance 
they saw the flames of so many villages and that all was 
lost, they sadly turned away. 

Woe to the conquered ! Now they suffered the greatest 
misery. Now were they pillaged, robbed and murdered. 
The soldiers put trembling old men to the sword, outraged 
the women, and when there was nothing more to plunder, 
carried off and sold even the bells of the churches. Many 
hundred unfortunates wandered away ; many hundreds 
died of starvation and of the Hungarian plague. This was 
a fatal pain in the head. 

The God's-house and Grey leagues sent supplicating 
messengers to the plenipotentiary of the Archduke of Aus- 
tria, at Lindau (Sept). The Confederates also, moved by 
compassion, interceded. But the Archduke obstinately 
persisted in his determination : The Ten-jurisdictions must 
be subject to his ducal house, and the two other Leagues 
must always allow a passage to the Austrians and Spaniards. 
The catholic Confederates, well pleased in their hearts, 
aggravated by their reproaches the misfortunes of the Gri- 
sons and said : " We have often warned you." But the 
burgomaster of Zurich, John Henry Holzhalb, said : " Dear 
allies, place no reliance on any help from us at present. 
We have too- much to do at home. We see that you must 
undergo a great deal. Our Lord God will send you better 
help in time. For the present, do your best to save your 
country from utter destruction." 

When the Grisons saw that they were deserted b}^ the 
Confederates, they resigned themselves to drink the bitter 
cup. Eight jurisdictions and Lower Engadine were sepa- 
rated from the Ehetian league and became completely sub- 
ject to Austria. There was great suffering. The disorders 
8 p 



170 THE COUNT OF COEUVRES. [l621- 

of the soldiery, the violence of the Austrian officers, the 
encroachments of the bishop of Coire were unrestrained. 

Then Grod touched the heart of the king of France. He 
made a treaty (1623) with the pope, with Yenice and Sa- 
voy. He could not allow the Austrians always to have a 
free passage over the Grison Alps, and thus to become all- 
powerful in Italy. When the emperor at Vienna and the 
king of Spain heard of the preparations of France, they at 
once accepted the proposition of the pope that he should 
provisorily occupy and hold Yaltelina, Chiavenna and 
Bormio, until the settlement of matters between the kings. 
And this was done. 

But the king of France, not pleased with this, sent . his 
troops through Switzerland to Grrisons (1624). Berne and 
Zurich gave him passage. All the exiled Grrisons formed 
the vanguard of the army. The hero Eudolf of Salis 
led them, with valiant colonel Greorge Jenatsch and many 
others. Zurich also sent troops under colonel Caspar 
Schmied ; as did Berne, under brave Nicholas of Diesbach. 
The bands of Yalais came likewise. When all these drew 
near, the whole of Grrisons rose joyfully in arms. The 
garrisons of Austria and their cruel officers were driven 
from the Ten-jurisdictions by the united forces (1625) ; 
Chiavenna, Bormio and Yaltelina were reconquered. 

As soon as the league of the Ten-jurisdictions was reiini- 
ted to the others, the Ehetians expected that their French 
auxiliaries wouM restore to them all their subject coun- 
tries. But the French general the count of Coeuvres said : 
" Not so ! Yaltelina, Chiavenna and Bormio shall pay to 
you an annual tribute of 25,000 crowns ; but, in return, 
these countries shall choose their own magistrates ; you 
shall not send to them either governors or garrisons." 

The Grrisons were aggrieved at this, and still more so 
when the kings of France and Spain made a peace at 
Monzona in Arragon (5 March, 1626) and solemnly con- 
firmed nearly all that the count of Coeuvres had said 
The treaty of Monzona was executed in full. The foreign 
troops left Grisons, and, for security, the pope's soldiers 
occupied Yaltelina (1627). The emperor in Germany hav- 
ing a good understanding with Spain, was quiet for the time. 



-1680.] GREAT MISERY. 171 

However, as soon as Spain and France broke their 
peace, and began a fresh war in Italy, the emperor 
marched a force of forty thousand men into the Grison 
country, so suddenly that no resistance was possible 
(1629). A pact of the troops went to help the Spaniards 
in Lombardy; the rest subjected the Grisons in their own 
country. The Ten-jurisdictions again became subject to 
Austria; Lower -Engadine the same. The emperor's sword 
was law to the whole of Grisons. 

Such was the misery of the people at this time, that all 
hope of better days was lost. The passages and canton- 
ments of foreign troops increased from day to day ; barns 
and stables were emptied. The peasants had to build for- 
tifications for the soldiers. Pestilential diseases spread, so 
that nearly twelve thousand men died thereof. Then 
came the bishop of Coire and added to their misery by 
compelling all who had formerly been subject and tribu- 
tary to his bishopric, again to become subject and tribu- 
tary, in perpetuity. There was no justice, no mercy. 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE GRISONS RECOVER THEIR LIBERTY. 
[A. D. 1680 to 1640.] 

But so long as a people do not lose their desire for 
freedom, and faith in themselves, nothing is irretrievably 
lost. Then God always sends a day of salvation. Such 
was the experience of the men in the Grison country. 

When all were bowed under misery and oppression, the 
emperor made peace with the French at Cherasco in Italy 
(June, 1630), and agreed to withdraw his garrisons from 
the Grison valleys. The emperor, at this time, was sore 
pressed by war in Germany, and the great Swedish king, 
Gustavus Adolphus, had crossed the sea against him with 
bis army. 

As soon as the Austrians left tke I^eagues, and their 



172 DUKE HENRY OF ROHAN. [1680- 

fortresses had been blown up, all the people joyfully re- 
newed their oath to the ancient compact for liberty, and 
stationed six thousand men under arms to defend the 
frontiers of their fatherland. And as, at the same time, 
there came to Coire the renowned warrior, duke Henry 
of Kohan, embassador from the king of France to the 
Confederates and Grisons, they made him their general 
(1631), and gave him great power. He was a wise and 
loyal as well as a valiant lord, who loved the free Grisons. 
He fortified all the defiles towards Germany and Tyrol, 
brought a reinforcement of French troops into the country 
(1632), and put every thing on the best footing. While 
his king was at peace with the emperor, he could not, as 
the Grisons wished, enter Yaltelina with an armed force. 
Thus passed nearly three years. 

When France finally joined Sweden against the em- 
peror, and a fresh war broke out, the French king notified 
the duke of Rohan that he need no longer delay to gratify 
the wishes of the Grisons. Rohan secretly opened nego- 
tiations with the evangelical cantons, Berne, Bale and 
Zurich. Having an understanding with them, he brought 
a strong force through their territories, to the great dis- 
pleasure of the catholic cantons, and from Grisons marched 
over the Alps into Yaltelina (1635). The whole of the 
Grison country resounded with arms. Six thousand val- 
iant men marched with the French to the conquest of the 
subject territory. Colonels George Jenatsch, Florin and 
Peter Guler raised three fresh troops in the pay of France. 

Then bloody and terrible battles were fought with the 
Austrians and Spaniards in the valleys of Chiavenna, in 
savage Freelthal, near Morbegno in Valtelma, and near 
Mazzo in Bormio. Everywhere Rohan and the bold 
warrior Jenatsch were in advance, everywhere victorious. 

After the conquest was completed, the Grisons hoped, 
from one day to another, to reenter into possession of the 
territory formerly subject to them. But the king of 
France still made difiiculties, and wished every thing to 
remain as arranged at the peace of Monzona. The Grisons 
were very indignant at this. But France was too power- 
ful for them, and they were compelled to be silent. Many 



-1640.] ENVOY LA^iElIi. 1?3 

and fruitless negotiations took place; the people were 
harassed by the cantonment of French soldiers, but could 
do nothing. Almost all that Rohan had promised re- 
mained unfulfilled, but not by his flxult. He was power- 
less against the orders of his king, who had sent Lanier, 
as his envoy, to Coire. Now Lanier was a haughty, iras- 
cible man. When most of the Grison troops in the pay 
of France threatened to quit the king's service because 
they were not punctually paid, Lanier cried out angrily : 
" I will plant my spear in Coire, and set my foot on the 
necks of the mutinous leaders!" 

Then the Grisons came together and said: "Austria has 
oppressed us ; France has deceived us. Let us trust no 
foreign power." 

And, on the 6th of February, 1637, thirty-one of the 
principal men of the whole republic met at the house of 
burgomaster George Meier in Coire, and swore to risk life 
and property in order to free their fatherland from the 
foreign yoke. Tlien they went into all the valleys and 
made the necessary preparations with the greatest una- 
nimity. 

Colonel Jenatsch was to negotiate with Austria at 
Innspruch, for the reestablishment of the ancient friendly 
relations, but at the same time to keep the duke of Rohan 
quiet and unsuspicious by manifestations of great friend- 
ship. The Grisons armed. There were then but few 
French troops in the land. The Zuricher colonel, Caspar 
Schmied, was still, however, stationed near Luziensteig. 
But the Grisons had already sent to Zurich, so that he re- 
ceived orders, at least not to oppose them. 

The duke of Rohan noticed the agitation and secret 
arming. He strengthened his garrison in the Rhine-fort- 
ress on the Landquart (near Pfeffers). Then came Jen- 
atsch and successfully combatted his suspicions. Suddenly 
the whole people rose in the mountains. Jenatsch with 
six battalions of his countrymen surrounded the French 
in the Rhine-fortress. By agreement with Grisons, a 
German force appeared in a threatening attitude near Lin« 
dau ; a Spanish on the lake of Como. Rohan, surprised 
on all sides, was obliged to consent to withdraw his troopa 



174 MAHSHAL LECQUES. [l6gO- 

at once from Grisons and Taltelina. He also answered 
for marshal Lecques and all the French, who were five 
thousand strong. So they went over the Rhine, out of 
the Grison territory. Duke Rohan took a friendly leave 
of the chiefs of the republic (May, 1637), as did marshal 
Lecques. When the latter, however, on his departure, 
saw colonel Jenatsch, growing pale with anger, he aimed 
a pistol at him and cried : " Thus I take my leave of a 
traitor!" But the pistol missed fire. 

Jenatsch did not lose his life till two years afterwards, 
when he was enjoying himself with other colonels and 
officers at an entertainment in Coire. About midnight 
(January 14, 1639) Rudolf Planta, Pompey's son, with 
other conspirators, entered the ball-room. A bullet passed 
through the colonel's cheek ; he defended himself with a 
candlestick. Six blows of a hatchet deprived him of life. 
His body was interred in the cathedral with military 
honors. This was the end of a man who loved and saved 
his country, but was not ashamed to employ therefor the 
most dishonorable means. Rudolf Planta, his murderer, 
died a violent death a year afterwards, during a popular 
tumult in Engadine. 

After the Grisons were by these means freed from for- 
eign power and again masters of their subject territory, 
they sent envoys to the kings of Spain and France to re- 
quest that they might hold their conquests in peace. At 
Milan (September 3, 1639) a perpetual peace was nego- 
tiated and concluded between the Spaniards and Grisons, 
and the Grison sovereignty in Bormio, Yaltelina and 
Chiavenna was completely acknowledged, but on condi- 
tion that the catholic church should remain alone domi- 
nant in these baihwicks. Such was also the wish of the 
catholic communes in Grisons. 

Friendly relations were reestablished with the ducal 
house of Austria by the renewal of the ancient treaties 
(at Feldkirch, August 9, 1641). Austria was overbur- 
dened with war in Germany, and was glad to retain her 
former rights in Engadine and the Ten-jurisdictions. But, 
before ten years had elapsed, the communes of this League 
purchased all the rights of the duke over them at a great 



1640.] DISCORD BETWEEN THE CANTONS. 176 

price. So did the communes of Lower Engadine. Thus, 
from this time, Austria retained nothing but a few sig- 
nioral rights at Ehezuns and Tarasp. 

By these means the league of the Ten-jurisdictions be- 
came free and independent, like the two others in the 
Khetian highlands. Davos remained, as formerly, the 
chief place of the League, although the other high- jurisdic- 
tions, incited by colonel Peter Guler and other leaders, 
made so violent an opposition to this that Zurich, Berne, 
and Glarus had to interfere to prevent misfortune. By 
the decision of the recorder of Zurich, John Henry Was- 
ser (January 11, 1644), Davos retained most of her ancient 
honors: the assembling of the diet, the guardianship of 
the banner and archives of the League, and the right to 
name the banneret, subject to the League's approval. 



CHAPTER XLL 

OF THE TROUBLES AMONG THE CONFEDERATES DURING THE THIRTY" 
years' RELIGIOUS WAR IN GERMANY, AND HOW SWITZERLAND'S 
INDEPENDENCE OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE WAS ESTABLISHED. 

[A. D. 1618 to 164S.] 

The negotiations and warhke movements about the 
Grison territory had occasioned much anxiety in the cities 
and commanes of Switzerland, much talk in diets and 
councils, much expense for embassies and armaments, but 
no Confederate achievement by which the freedom and 
independence of the Rhetian highlands or the ancient 
glory of Switzerland were upheld. This resulted from the 
fact that the Confederate cantons lived in no less discord 
among themselves than did the Grrisons. When the re- 
formed cantons wished to aid, the catholics opposed. 
When the catholics wished to do anything, the reformed 
withstood them. Those held with Spain and Austria, 
these with France and Venice. One party received money 
from the former^ the other from the ktter^ and each msLde 



176 THE ECCLESIASTICAL LORDS. [1618- 

treaties and furnished troops to the foreign power which it 
favored. This made a few lords in the land rich, many 
families poor and destitute. 

In the common bailiwicks, where the catholic and re- 
formed cantons shared the government, they quarrelled as 
before. Although, according to agreement, both religious 
parties had equal rights in the bailiwicks, the catholic were 
harassed by the reformed bailiffs, the reformed by the 
catholic. In Thurgau and Kheinthal, the sovereign can- 
tons disputed: as to whether the majority of votes should 
decide in religious as well as in civil matters. The eccle- 
siastical lords, as usual, took part in the quarrel to embit- 
ter it. The bishop of Bale, sustained by the emperor, so 
long as the latter was victorious in the German war, re- 
quired Muhlhausen and Bale to restore to his see the prop- 
erty which it had lost long before. The abbot of St. Gal- 
len claimed in Thurgau and Kheinthal more rights than 
justly belonged to him ; the abbot of Einsiedeln attempted 
to make the foresters of Schwyz tributary to him ; the ab- 
bot of Fischingen wished to build a catholic altar in the 
reformed church at Lastorf. These ecclesiastical lords 
always found supporters as w^l as opponents. And, more 
than once, Swiss stood ready to draw the fratricidal sword 
against Swiss, in civil war. The fear of foreign powers 
alone restrained them. 

At this period a long and terrible war desolated Ger- 
man}^ It began, between catholics and protestants, in 
Bohemia (1618), then spread over Germany, and, finally, 
drew Sweden and Italy, Spain, Hungary and France, into 
one common misfortune. It was begun for religious mat- 
ters, it was continued for the acquisition of crowns and 
lands. Therefore, sometimes the Venetians and French, 
sometimes the Spaniards and Austrians, earnestly endeav- 
ored to secure the assistance of the Confederates, or a pas- 
sage across the Grison mountains. 

The armies of the contending powers, as thej^ followed 
each other on German soil from battle-field to battle-field, 
often approached close to the frontiers of the Confederates 
But the latter, conscious of their division and weakness^ 
)yished not to see the foreign sword in their valleys, add' 



-1648-i GENERAL HORl^. 17? 

ing to the calamities they already endured. Therefore 
they prudently maintained their neutrality in all foreign 
warfare and the inviolability of the Swiss soil. But so 
great was the continued discord among themselves that 
they often hindered the legitimate defence of their terri 
tory and of their allies. 

Thus, for instance, when Muhlhausen was in danger 
from the passage of Swedish and imperial troops, Zurich 
and Berne sent soldiers to protect her (1632). But when 
the Bernese wished to cross by the defile of Solothurn, the 
guard barred the passage and sounded the tocsin. The 
bailiffs, Philip Roll of Bechburg and Ursus Brunner of 
Falkenstein, with captain Suri, surrounded the Bernese 
soldiers, shot, sabred and killed several, and disarmed all. 
Solothurn was obliofed to suffer severelv for this outrasre : 
some of the perpetrators were punished by death, some by 
banishment ; but hatred and distrust were not appeased. 

On another occasion, when the Swedish general Horn 
(1633), to surprise the Austrian city of Constance, had 
passed with his force through the Zuricher city of Stein in 
Hegau, the catholic Confederates accused the reformed 
with favoring the Swedes to the prejudice of the emperor. 
Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and Zug, claiming an equal 
right on the emperor's side, sent three thousand men to- 
wards the lake of Constance. But Zurich armed at once 
and threatened to join the Swedes, if the catholic Confede- 
rates made common cause with the Austrians against 
them. Peace was preserved, but not without difficult arbi- 
tration. 

As the Swedes had done at Stein, so, shortly afterwards, 
near Schaffhausen, did the imperialists violate the soil of 
Switzerland. Too late, feebly and without union, the peo- 
ple of Schaffhausen seized their arms, and some troops of 
Zurichers came into Thurgau to support them. The vil- 
lages of Bargen, Altdorf, Beggingen, Barzheim and Schleit- 
heim were partly pillaged, partly burnt by the soldiery. 
The vigorous peasants fought bravely against the foreign 
plunderers and killed many, while the frightened govern- 
ment of Schaffhausen exchanged polite notes with the im 
perial general. 
8* 



.178 SttBSERVtENCY TO FOREIGKE^RS. [1618- 

Austrian soldiers and camp-followers more than once 
pillaged the territory of the city of Bale, and laughed at 
the weak half-measures of the Confederates, As these 
could not cause their own territory to be respected, still 
less could they defend the territory of their alHes from en- 
croachment. They entirely abandoned Eothweil, an im- 
perial city in Suabia, their ally, because she had received 
an Austrian garrison against the Swedes. And when the 
guaranteed neutrality of the free county of Upper Bur- 
gundy, as well as her hereditary union with Austria, was 
disregarded, sometimes by the French, sometimes by the 
Swedes, the Confederates oj)posed the enemy's arms, not 
with the sword, but with suppliant envoys and letters ; it 
was the same when duke Bernard of VYeimar encamped 
with the Swedes in the bishopric of Bale (1638). He re- 
mained as long as he pleased, in spite of all remonstrances, 
and impoverished the already poor people. 

It was indeed often said in the Diets that an army ought 
to be stationed on the frontiers to maintain the sacred 
rights of the Swiss soil, and to defend the honor of the 
flitherland, not with paper, but with arms. But central 
Switzerland said : " The frontier cantons may protect 
themselves." And others said: '^The expenses of an 
army are too great." Each expected sacrifices from his 
Confederates, but no one was willing to make sacrifices 
himself. The old, magnanimous, Swiss, manly heart beat 
no longer. The envoys of foreign powers also interfered, 
as usual, either to command as masters, or to make parties. 
Even in the most just or the most trivial matters, the Con- 
federates had not always courage enough to resist the over- 
bearing spirit of the foreign embassadors. In 1642, when 
the French embassador was passing through Mellingen, a 
little city on the Reuss, and the people of his train had a 
quarrel with the burghers about the bridge-toll, so that 
the burghers seized their arms and closed the gates, the 
anger of the embassador was not appeased by the Diet's 
ordering the avoyer, recorder and toll-gatherer to go to 
Solothurn, ask. his pardon on their knees and return the 
twelve batzen that had been paid ; and the cowardly 
Diet went so far, at his demand, as to keep these men ia 
prison at Baden^ until he was satisfied. 



-1648.] fn^ ttElMATfiLOSEN. 110 

In consequence of so many negotiations, quarrels and 
armaments, several of the governments wanted money, and 
imposed taxes and contributions. But when the council 
of Berne (1641) decreed a tax of one in the thousand on 
property, without stating how long it should last, the coun- 
try-people were afraid it would be permanent. They 
complained loudly in Aargau and Emraenthal, and noth- 
ing could remove their mistrust. Thereat the council 
adopted severe measures, and caused some of the principal 
persons who opposed the tax to be seized. This occasioned 
such a rising of the people in Emmenthal, that the city of 
Berne was garrisoned, and troops sent to Thun, Burgdorf 
and Lenzburg. The malcontents held open council at 
Langnau. The disturbance was allayed by moderation, 
with the aid of deputies from the Confederate diet. The 
tax was paid. Berne promised a removal of each and all 
the abuses of which the people had complained. 

Shortly afterwards (1645) disturbances also took place in 
the canton of Zurich respecting an extraordinar}^ real-estate 
tax. Happily, by gentleness and prudence, the council of 
Zurich so calmed the insurgents, that they voluntarily 
begged pardon for their disobedience. Only in Knonau 
and Wadenschwyl did they remain obstinate, threaten an 
armed opposition, and fail in respect to their magistrates 
and officers. At once, these communes were occupied by 
troops and disarmed. Men, women and children were 
compelled to ask for mercy on their knees within a circle 
of soldiers. Seven ringleaders and authors of the revolt 
were executed with the sword. WadenscViwyl paid a fine 
of 26,163 guilders, Knonau 12,170. This was the result 
of the rebellion. 

Many foreign vagabonds were at that time scattered 
through Switzerland. They came from Italy and Ger- 
many, desolated by the war.* Deserters and marauders 
excited the people against the magistracy, either to curry 
favor with the peasants, or to profit by disturbances. 

* Such is the origin of the heimathlosen (homeless people, having no 
fixed abode and no claim upon any commune or canton), the presence and 
maintenance of whom have ever been a source of great trouble to Swita 
erland, always an asylum for refugees from other nations. 



180 JOHN RUDOLF WETTSTEIl^. [l648- 

Idlers and strollers were so numerous, that in a single day 
(1639) one hundred were counted at Schwjz, and sixty- 
three hundred and seventy in the county of Baden. The 
country was unsafe on account of them, until very severe 
measures were adopted. At Bremgarten, two hundred 
and thirty-six malefactors suffered death in one single 
year. This so terrified the vagabonds that they all fled. 

The peace which the great powers of Europe finally 
concluded, after the thirty years' war, was more servicea- 
ble to Switzerland than the sword of justice. While ne- 
gotiations were going on in Westphalia, at Munster and 
Osnabruch, the Confederates also sent their embassador, 
John Eudolf Wettstein, burgomaster of Bale. He man- 
aged the affairs of the Confederates like a firm and skilful 
man. And, as the Germans had always held the Swiss to 
be subjects of the Grerman empire, and the imperial tribunal 
had pronounced sentences against Confederates instead of 
citing them before their own courts, burgomaster Wett- 
stein declared the steadfast resolve of the whole Confeder- 
acy to maintain their complete independence of the empire. 

There the independence and self-sovereignty of the 
Swiss Confederacy was solemnly recognized and acknowl- 
edged by the emperor, kings and princes unitedly, in the 
Westphalian treaty of peace. 



CHAPTER XLH. 

HOW THE PEASANTS IN THE CANTONS OF LUCERNE, BERNE, SOLO- 
THURN AND BALE UNDERTAKE TO REVOLT, AND LOSE THEREBY. 

. [A. D. 164S to 1655.] 

The magistrates in city and country were well pleased 
when the emperor no longer addressed them as "Beloved 
and faithful to ourselves and the empire," but styled them: 
"Strong, steadfast, honored and especially dear." And 
the Swiss might indeed have been called a happy people, 
had they been united among themselves. But the reli- 



-1665.] ARBITRARY RULE. 181 

gious discord between catholics and reformed did not cease, 
and to this old trouble was added a new one. 

In most of the cantons, great dissatisfaction prevailed 
among the country-people, who, in many valleys, were 
still serfs, or, at least, bore all the old burdens of servitude. 
Seeing that the people in Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden 
were free, that they had no magistrates or laws but such 
as they themselves voted for, and paid no taxes or contri- 
butions but such as they themselves decreed, the peasants 
in other cantons lamented that they remained serfs and 
subject to the city-burghers, without hope of ransom ; that 
they were compelled to pay taxes and contributions re- 
specting which they had not been consulted ; that obliga- 
tions and laws were imposed upon them without reference 
to their wishes. But it was still more grievous that they 
were forced to yield servile obedience to avaricious gov 
ernors and haughty bailiffs ; that they were beaten, mal- 
treated and imprisoned for the most trivial fault, or reduced 
to poverty by law-suits and arbitrary fines. Complaint? 
against governors and nobles did little good, and often ag- 
gravated their sufferings ; for relatives of the bailiffs usually 
formed part of the government. Even the recorders, un- 
der-bailiffs and constables, as they were all from the cities, 
thought they could, with impunity, harass any peasant 
who opposed their will. However, as the evil was not 
equally great everywhere, and there were many good and 
upright officers over the country, all remained quiet for a 
long while. 

But when (August, 1652) the government of Berne, for 
the better regulation of their coinage, refused to receive 
the small change of other cantons^ and reduced the value 
of their own batzen"'^ by one half, general discontent was 
manifested. For he who thought he had ten batzen, found 
that he had but five ; and the poor man suffered most, the 
rich man least. Thereat the people assembled in the vil- 
lages, and, to the common grievance, each added his own 
special complaint : one against the bailiff, another against 
the constable; one against the government-trade in salt, 

* In 1852, when the old Swiss money was called in, and a coinage 
Id^pticAl with the French adopt ;d, the batz was worth about three sous. 



182 REDUCTION OF THE CURRENCY. [1648- 

another against the same in gunpowder; one against the 
trades-corporations and the imposts, another against the 
labor-dues and the disregard of ancient rights. The more 
the people talked, the more excited they became. 

Now it happened that the government of Lucerne, also, 
after the example of Berne, reduced the value of their 
batzen. Then the communes of Entlibuch sent deputies 
to the government and requested, either that the money 
should be taken for dues at its old value, or the products 
of the soil received in payment in lieu of money. But 
they were so harshly answered that they went back very 
sad. Thereat the country-people were angered, and when 
the collectors came among them, maltreated them and 
drove them away. On this, the avoyer Dulliker, with 
civil and ecclesiastical lords, went to Entlibuch (February, 
1653) to bring the elders of the communes to reason. But 
the people came out from all the villages with spears and 
clubs : in front a white flag ; then three young men who 
blew Alpine horns; then the leaders, and behind three 
others in the ancient Swiss costume, representing the 
men of Kutli ; a great crowd, fourteen hundred strong, fol- 
lowed them. Thus they marched into the village where 
the envoys of the city were assembled. Then arose a 
great tumult, and cries against the depreciation of the coin, 
against the toll near Wollhausen, against the high interest 
on money, against the bailiffs' fines, against the arbitrary 
imposts on sales, and such things; and the people gave 
utterance to such threats and insults, that the envoys could 
do nothing with the excited multitude, but returned home 
to the city. The country-people held meetings ; stationed 
guards; examined travellers; exhorted the neighboring 
subjects of Berne to make common cause with them; and 
the ten bailiwicks of the district made and swore to a 
league among themselves, at Wollhausen. 

As the matter was becoming serious, the six catholic 
cantons sent deputies to mediate amicably. But when 
these deputies met at Willisau with the delegates of thf 
ten bailiwicks, who had put in writing twenty-seven causr 
of complaint, the assembled peasants renewed their tum;_ 
and even seized the deputies, set a guard over them^ c-'es 



-1655.] LEAGUE OF WOLLHAUSEN. 183 

pied the main passes to the city and threatened to attack 
Lucerne. Immediately, four hundred men marched from 
tlie small cantons to garrison and defend the city. Zurich 
and Berne armed. When the country-people in the ten 
bailiwicks heard this, their courage failed them ; they re- 
leased the imprisoned deputies and besought them to me- 
diate. The deputies did so justly, and pronounced this 
sentence (19th March) : " The government shall retain its 
sovereignty and the people their rights ; the imposts on 
Bales shall be equalized throughout the whole land ; the 
avoyer of Willisaa shall be chosen from among its burgh- 
ers alone ; there shall be no appeal from Entlibuch to Lu- 
cerne in matters under one hundred guilders ; the league 
of the ten bailiwicks at Wollhausen is annulled ; no such 
league can hereafter be allowed under severe penalties, but 
no damages shall be required from the country for the ex- 
penses of the present difficulty." 

Wh^n all was thought to be settled, the storm broke 
forth anew in the canton of Berne, from Thun as far as 
the cit}^ of Brugg. For when the government here had 
wished to send troops against the peasants in the canton 
jf Lucerne, the people said : " No I we will not march 
against our brothers ; we have as good cause of complaint 
as they." In all the villages, tumults, uproar and disorder 
prevailed. No one wished to obey, every one to command. 
The cities of Thun, Aarburg, Zofingen, Aarau, Brugg and 
Lenzburg alone remained quiet ; the clergy in the coun- 
|try were also faithful to the government. 

Berne at once called for Confederate assistance to put 
[down the revolt. Schaflfhausen, Bale and Muhlhausen 
limmediately sent troops. But Zurich and Lucerne advised 
|an amicable settlement. The government of Berne was at 
ast inclined to this. However, before the parties could 
I'/Ome to an understanding, the troops of Schafifhausen had 
already entered the country in the neighborhood of Brugg, 
Jhose of Bale and Muhlhausen near Aarau. This enraged 
|he people in Aargau and they rose in a body (18th March, 
' 653) throughout the whole county of Lenzburg. Thereat 
^. Schaffhausen troops retreated, and those of Bale and 
s. Ihausen retired from Aarau to the left bank of the 



184 APPARENT SETTLEMENT. [l648- 

Aar into the bailiwicks of Biberstein and Schenkenburg. 
But here the people rose also as far as into the territory of 
Solothurn, so that the men of Bale and Muhlhausen were 
compelled to return home. At Erlisbach, the country- 
people of Solothurn and Aargau stood in arms ; between 
their ranks, as through a street, the troops of Bale and 
Muhlhausen marched back to their own country. 

Then the tumult increased. The peasants held general 
assemblies at Langenthal, besieged the castles of the bailiffs, 
sent deputies to the government at Berne and even applied 
secretly to the French embassador, La Barde, for foreign 
assistance. This was a great mistake. For the French 
embassador betrayed them, and many well-intentioned per- 
sons abandoned their cause, because they had asked for 
foreign interference in the affairs of their fatherland. 

In the mean while, deputies from six reformed cantons 
appeared at Berne, to terminate peacefully the quarrel be- 
tween magistrates and subjects. The delegates of the 
communes came also, and it was agreed :- " That the salt- 
trade belongs to the government ; to the subjects, the right 
to purchase salt for their own consumption freely, wherever 
they please ; the duty on sales and the obligation to enter 
a trades-corporation cease; the batzen remain at the value 
last determined, but the capital and interest of debts shall 
be reckoned no higher than in 1613 ; money lent on suf- 
ficient security and at fair interest shall not be reclaimed 
under six years; the fees of the constables shall be di- 
minished." When these and other matters were thus 
equitably agreed upon, the delegates of the communea 
knelt before the council of the city of Berne to ask for par- 
don, and everything seemed well settled. 

But the country- people in the canton of Lucerne again 
made a disturbance on their side, complained of the sen- 
tence which had been rendered and said: "We cannot 
see any such wrong in our league at Wollhausen, as the 
sentence declares." And they sent messengers to the sub- 
jects of other cantons saying: "We wish to be no longer 
slaves of the cities, but free people, as are those in the^ 
small cantons." The people in Aargau and in Emmenthal^ 
joined their voices to theirs. They blamed the dclegali 



-1655.] THE PEOPLe'S-LEAGUE. 185 

who had knelt before the seated council at Berne and ac 
cepted the agreement. Even in the cantons of Solothurn 
and Bale, many of the country-people were excited and 
joined those of Lucerne, Emmenthal and Aargau. They 
held a general assembly at Sumiswald (13th April, 1653) 
and chose Nicholas Leuenberger, a countryman of Schoen- 
holz, to be their leader and chief of the leaguers of the four 
cantons of Lucerne, Berne, Solothurn and Bale. They 
decreed: "The people shall respect the rights of the 
magistrates, and the magistrates the rights of the people ; 
no subject shall take arms against the governments, but if 
the latter send troops, they shall be repelled by force." 
They invited the subjects of all the Confederates, in writ- 
• ng, to meet at Hutwyl on a certain day, for the discussion 
of the rights and liberties of all, and fhe formation of a 
people's-league in opposition to the master's-league, that all 
Swiss might be free Swiss. This displeased the masters in 
the cities. An important and decisive moment was at hand. 

As, formerly, the counts and signiors had freed them- 
selves from the emperors and acquired an hereditary do- 
minion over their districts ; as, afterwards, the larger cities 
of Switzerland, favored by fortune and circumstances, had 
enfranchised themselves from the dominion of the counts 
and signiors by purchase or by force of arms ; so, now, 
the subject country -people wished to reduce the power of 
the cities and to become free. But their enterprise was 
not well calculated. 

In fact, these tumultuous hordes did not bring to their 
work either the pious loyalty or firm union anciently mani- 
fested by the men of the Waldstatten, or the prudence and 
considerate strength exercised by the cities. They were 
rude, igQorant people, without experience in civil concerns, 
badly taught, distrusting one another, each thinking more 
of his own advantage than of the common good. They 
listened more willingly to the cries of violent men than to 
the counsels of the wise ; all wished to command, none to 
obey. Therefore they were at variance among themselves, 
and ready for all excesses. They maltreated all who were 
not of their opinion. Some they threatened with fire and 
sword ; some they mutilated. 



186 NICHOLAS LEUENBERGER. [1648- 

In the mean while, the cities armed to put down the 
rebels, but opened negotiations in order to gain time. 
Berne, as well as the Diet at Baden, was more frank with 
the people. Many conferences were appointed or held 
with the delegates of the insurgents ; but with such disor- 
derly bands, each of whom contradicted the other and 
changed its mind every day, no business could be brought 
to a conclusion. 

After all attempts at conciliation had proved vain, the 
Yorort, Zurich, ordered the whole Confederacy to arm 
(11th May, 1653). Berne assembled the troops of Yaud, 
which, in consequence of the difference of language, had 
remained foreign to the affairs of her German subjects, and 
named Sigismund of Erlach as her general. He had about 
ten thousand men. About five thousand came from the 
catholic cantons, led by colonel Zweier ; the other Confed- 
erates, eight thousand in all, were commanded by general 
Wertmuller of Zurich. The free country-people of the 
small cantons held true to the cities, and adopted their 
cause against the insurgents, partly from love of justice 
and neighborly friendship, and partly because they them- 
selves had subjects, whose rebellion or freedom they did 
not desire. They garrisoned and protected Lucerne. 

The insurgents were as prompt to arm. They occupied 
the defile near Gumminen towards Yaud, those near Win- 
disch and Mellingen towards Zurich. They assaulted 
Aarburg and Aarau, Zofingen and Lenzburg, but without 
success. For they had no heavy artillery nor a sufficiency 
of other arms, nor discipline among themselves, nor expe- 
rienced leaders, because until then all officers had been 
taken from among the burghers of the cities. 

As soon as Leuenberger, the chief of the leagued peasants, 
and Schybi and Ulli Galli and other leaders of the revolt, 
saw that there was a serious opposition, they tried to ensure 
the success of their perilous undertaking by boldness and 
by new negotiations. Leuenberger, who was encamped a 
league from Berne-city at Osterraundigen, where his sol- 
diers robbed and plundered the neighborhood, wrote once 
more to Berne for an amicable settlement of the dispute* 
The city-council, to avoid effusion of blood and to gain 



-1665.J SlGlSMUNi) Ol^ erlach. 187 

time, sent deputies to the rebels ; conceded many things 
and even to pay 50,000 livres to the country-people, not, 
however, as a compensation for their war-expenses, but as 
a relief to their poor. The delegates of the peasants finally 
subscribed the before rejected agreement, and promised 
submission and fealty. But hardly had they reached their 
camp, when all was again nullified. For, as the Confede- 
rates were advancing, the rebels refused to disperse until 
all the troops had returned to their homes. 

In the mean while, Wertmuller and Zweier, with united 
forces, marched over the Heitersberg as far as Mellingen. 
Thence they sent to Leuenberger, and granted another con- 
ference at his own request. At this moment, Leuenberger, 
who had written to the council of Berne to complain of 
the advance of the Confederate auxiliaries while his own 
peasants were besieging the cities in Aargau, unexpectedly 
saw his force increased to twenty thousand men. Then 
his courage also increased. He was no longer afraid, and 
replied that the sword must decide. 

But the attempts of the rebels upon Wohlenschwyl and 
Mellingen as well as upon Zofingen having proved unsuc- 
cessful, they again lost heart, and once more sent messen- 
gers to the Confederate council of war, to obtain favorable 
conditions. But now the council answered: "Peasants 
cannot propose conditions. Dissolve your league. Keturn 
to your homes. Your chiefs must await the sentence of 
their magistrates. Do this and we will leave you in 
peace." 

The terrified envoys of the country-people of Berne, 
Bale and Solothurn immediately swore to these conditions. 
Not so the Lucerners. They excused themselves, for want 
of authority. There was no longer any plan, any coher- 
ence or cooperation among the people. Wertmuller ad- 
vanced. From Berne and Mangen, on the other side, 
came general Erlach towards Langenthal. On his passage 
he dispersed a troop of two thousand peasants. In the 
field before Herzogenbuchsee (28th May) he found a post 
of six peasants armed with halberds. They assured him 
that the rebels had entirely dispersed. But, as he rode 
towards the town with his followers, shot after shot was 



188 WERTMULLER OF ZURlOEt. [l648- 

fired at him. Quickly discovering the forces of the insur- 
gents, which had taken possession of the neighboring 
wood, he attacked them on three sides at once. 

Then ensued a desperate conflict. The insurgents, over- 
powered, retreated towards the town, defending their 
ground foot by foot. While a part of the town was in 
flames, they fought from the houses ; then from behind the 
walls of the church. At last they fled and dispersed 
through the woods. 

Erlach and Wertmuller joined forces near Langenthal. 
All rebellion was put down in that region. Wertmuller, 
desirous to observe the peace already promised to the 
country-people by the council of war at Mellingen, blamed 
the Bernese leader for the massacre at Herzogenbuchsee. 
But when the latter explained the circumstances to him, 
it was agreed that the covenant of Mellingen should apply 
only to Lower Aargau; and that, in the districts above 
Aarburg, Berne should have full power by right of con- 
quest. 

Suddenly, in all the villages, to cries of rebellion and 
bold bravadoes, succeeded the stillness of death and the 
repentance of terror. The people were disarmed, the lead- 
ers of the revolt imprisoned. The Confederate council of 
war sat in judgment at Zofingen. Schybi was brought 
there from Entlibuch and beheaded with the sword. Leu- 
enberger, betrayed in his own house by a neighbor and 
accomplice, was thrown into prison at Berne. There he 
was executed, and his bloody head was nailed to the gal- 
lows by the side of the insurgents' written league. In the 
same way died his secretary Brommer. Ulli Galli was 
hung on the gallows. At Bale, seven old men were con- 
demned to death, as partakers in the revolt; all had snow- 
white beards. Many others were also punished, some by 
death, some by banishipent, more by fines. The people 
of the free bailiwicks were compelled to pay 10,000 florins, 
those of the county of Lenzburg 20,000, the Solothurners 
30,000; others, other sums. And the emperor, Ferdinand 
III., declared the insurgents who had fled to be outlaws 
throughout the whole Eoman empire. 

But the insurgent country -people in the canton of Lu- 



-1666.] WAR-EXPENSES. 189 

cerne, when they saw their affairs separated from those of 
the rest at Mellingen, decided to come to an agreement 
with their government. Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and 
Zug sent deputies to Stanz to arbitrate between magis- 
trates and subjects (7th June). The Entlibuchers alone 
resisted the settlement ; for there were several burghers in 
Lucerne who privately encouraged them, and hoped by 
their means to bring about a change in the city govern- 
ment. But these burghers were betrayed and imprisoned, 
and the Entlibuchers reduced to obedience by the superi- 
ority of the forces sent against them. 

Such was the result of the insurrection. That which 
rises lawlessly must fall lawlessly. For a long while the 
cantons quarrelled with each other about the war-expenses : 
Berne especially with Zurich, Solothurn with Berne, until 
(1654) they came to an agreement on this matter in the 
Confederate Diet, where it was decided: That, for the 
future, each canton should, at its own expense, assist and 
support the others in case of need. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

ANOTHER RELIGIOUS WAR. THE BATTLE NEAR VILLMERGEN. 
COMMOTION IN BALE. THE PESTILENCE. 

[AD. 1656 to 1699.] 

Hardly was the quarrel about the war-expenses hap- 
pily settled, when another, more serious than the first, 
arose between the cantons. 

It was again occasioned by unchristian hate between re- 
formed and catholics. The clergy of both church-parties, 
instead of quenching the hell-fire of discord, did their best 
to fan it by talk and preaching. The governments already 
had many subjects of dispute, especially in the common 
bailiwicks, where all had rights and each wished to be 
master. No one trusted the others, while each attributed 
evil intentions to the rest. The catholics said; "The 



190 THE EVANGELICALS OF ARTH. [l656- 

Bernese and Zurichers are fortifying their cities and mak- 
ing alliances with Holland and England! They must 
have some purpose! It is against us!" The reformed 
said: "The catholics confirm the Borromean league, renew 
their treaties with Savoy and the bishop of Bale, and show 
themselves over-friendly to the king of Spain ! This is 
not without a motive! They aim at our religion !" 

Then it happened that, in 1655, six families of Arth, in 
the canton of Schwyz, were obliged to flee, because they 
were of the evangelical faith. Their lives were not safe in 
Arth. With prayers and tears, they presented themselves 
before the council of Zurich, beseeching them to intercede 
that they might at least obtain the free exit of their house- 
hold property. The council of Zurich, moved with com- 
passion, wrote to Schwyz and asked permission to remove 
the property of these fugitives. But Schwyz refused the 
request, and demanded the surrender of the persons. 
When the reformed cantons appealed thereat to the Con- 
federate right, the Schwyzers said: "We are accountable 
only to God and ourselves for the management of our af- 
fairs." And they confiscated the property of the fugitives, 
cast their relatives, who were also of the evangelical faith, 
into prison and chains, tortured them and even condemned 
some to death. 

Then Zurich seized her arms, after the mediation and 
entreaties of the neutral cantons had proved useless in the 
Diet. As quickly did Schwyz and the catholic cantons 
raise their banners. Zurich, supported by Muhlhausen 
and Schaff hausen, entered the field with ten thousand men, 
over-ran the whole of Thurgau, and besieged Kapperswyl. 
But the catholic cantons held Kapperswyl and the Albis, 
and also occupied Bremgarten, Mellingen and Baden, and 
the Brunig against Berne. The Bernese stationed troops 
to defend their frontiers against Freiburg, Solothurn and 
Unterwalden, and marched with forty banners towards 
Lenzburg, to assist the Zurichers. 

There was no discipline among the reformed troops. 
They pillaged and burned, wherever they went ; devas- 
tated the convent of Eheinau, plundered villages and 
churches^ and drove off the cattle. Among the Bernese 



-16^9.] PfYP'^^R OF LUCERNE. 191 

there was so little order, that they encamped in the terri- 
tory of Villmergen, without thought of the enemy, without 
sending forward scouts, and without sufficient ammunition 
for their artillery. And, although two young men of Aar- 
gau had discovered the enemy near the village of Wohlen 
and hastened back with the alarm, no attention was paid 
to their warning, because some young lords of Berne re- 
turned from a ride with the assurance that there was no 
danger. 

But on the height of Wohlen, behind the wood, there 
were, in fact, more than four thousand Lucerners. Col- 
oftel Pfyffer of Lucerne led them on. And, from within 
a sunken way on the height, which hid half their bodies, 
they suddenly fired upon the surprised Bernese. It was 
two o'clock in the afternoon of the 14:th of January, 1656. 
The Bernese were thrown into such confusion and terror 
that they could hardly be brought to stand. As powder 
and balls were wanting, they discharged their field-pieces but 
twice. All fled. Ten fresh banners came to their assist- 
ance, but were dragged away by the fugitives. During 
the combat, colonel Pfyffer received a letter ffom Lucerne, 
ordering him not to attack, because there were hopes of a 
friendly settlement. But he, gu'essing the contents of the 
letter, put it, with seal unbroken, into his pocket, and pur- 
sued the flying Bernese, large numbers of whom were 
slaughtered. They lost about eight hundred men and 
eleven field-pieces. At a short distance, among the hill- 
vineyards, were stationed several Bernese battalions : they 
saw the flight towards Lenzburg and the massacre of their 
fellow-soldiers, but did not move, because they had no 
orders. 

The troops of Aargau, alone, when they learned the de- 
feat of the Bernese, became excited and wished to advance 
and renew the battle. But the council of war forbade this 
and had much difiiculty in restraining their impetuosity. 
Such wa^ the battle of Yillmergen. For three days, the 
victors remained exulting on the field of combat. Then 
they returned home with much booty, and shortly after- 
wards (26th January, 1656), a truce and then peace was 
concluded. As no provisions were allowed to pass into 



192 JZWEiER OF EVeNBACS. [1656- 

the small cantons, and as neither the Lucerners nor the Ber 
nese could trust their own discontented peasantry, it was 
for the interest of all to put an end to this war, which 
lasted only nine weeks and had already cost Zurich alone 
more than 414,000 florins. The treaty of peace left every 
thing about as before. In religious matters and in all re- 
lating to emigration from one canton to another, each had 
power to do as it pleased within its own territory. 

The catholic cantons might have derived much greater 
advantage from the faulty military organization of the re- 
formed, had their own troops been on a better footing. 
Dissatisfied at the little they had gained, they threw all the 
blame on colonel Zweier of Evenbach, chief of the forces 
of Uri, and said that he must have had an understanding 
with the Zurichers and Bernese, that he had hindered the 
pursuit of the flying enemy at Etzel, and the raising of the 
siege of Rapperswyl. And a monk of Einsiedeln boldly 
declared that the Zurichers had sent to the colonel fourteen 
hundred ducats concealed in a capon. This gave rise to 
long disputes and interminable suits before the Diet. 

Now, there was once more a false peace in the land. 
This was seen to be the case everywhere, and especially 
in the common bailiwicks. Whatever injured one party 
pleased the other; and the common people imitated the 
masters in their unchristian fanaticism. Little was wanting 
to cause a fresh outbreak of the war. 

A Lucerner, who had enlisted soldiers for the Spanish 
service, was travelling on the day of Pentecost (1664) with 
forty-three recruits, through by-paths in Thurgau ; in the 
village of Lipperswyl they entered the reformed church 
with drawn sabres, and made much noise and disturbance. 
A woman, seized with affright, fled to the village of Wigol- 
dingen, uttering loud shrieks and calling for help. The 
Wigoldingeners rushed forth, fell upon the Spanish sol- 
diers, killed five, wounded others, and made some prisoners. 
This occurrence again brought the reformed and catholic 
cantons into arms against each other. They called out 
troops. The five catholic cantons immediately occupied 
Kaiserstuhl, Mellingen and Bremgarten. Many diets and 
conferences were held. The catholic cantons could only 



-1699.] JOHN FATIO. 193 

be appeased by blood. Two men of Wigoldingen were 
condemned to death (5th Sept., 1665) by a majority of the 
cantons governing Thurgau, in spite of the intercessions 
of Zurich for mercy on the unfortunates. When the com- 
mune of Wigoldingen was sentenced to defray all the 
expenses of this long quarrel, collections were made in all 
the churches of Zurich on their behalf. 

Shortly afterwards, information was received that the 
king of France intended to build a strong fortress at 
Haiiingen, near Bale, as a means of defence for France, of 
offence against the Swiss. This made the Confederates 
anxious, and they sent messengers to Paris to the king 
(1679). But when their attempts to prevent the building 
of the fortress proved vain, the excitement increased, 
especially at Bale. Here the citizens complained against 
the little, or executive, council, accusing many of its mem- 
bers with having received French gold, and with having 
exceeded their authority in matters of election and legisla- 
tion, to the detriment of th« state. The corporations were 
assembled. Many abuses came to light. Lords of the 
council and their wives, who had influenced the council 
electioDS, were deprived of their honors, or cast into prison 
and heavily fined. The council yielded, for the exas- 
perated citizens seized their arms. The Confederates sent 
mediators to settle the quarrel (1691). Too much space 
would be required to detail the divisions, disturbances and 
acts of violence which took place. Finally, after the 
mediators, with delegates from the council and the citizens, 
had come to a settlement of the rights of the great and 
little councils in matters of police, legislation and admin- 
istration and in nominations to of&ce, and the approving 
majority of the citizens had sanctioned it by an oath, the 
peace was broken in the most bloody manner. 

When John Fatio, one of the advocates of the citizens, 
was imprisoned over the Rhine-gate, on accusation of having 
done much on his own motion, and without authority from 
the citizens, an armed band, distinguished by white scarfs 
on their arms, assembled at night and demanded the release 
of the. prisoner. The alarm was given. The friends of the 
government rushed forth. Citizens stood in arms against 
9 ft 



194 SOURCES OF SWISS [1*700- 

citizens ; two of Fatio's partisans were shot (23d Sept, 
1691); about fifty others were imprisoned the next day; 
armed peasants were brought into the city to maintain 
order. A severe tribunal sat in judgment on the authors 
of the revolt. John Fatio, John Muller and Conrad 
Moyses were beheaded (28th Sept.) on the square before 
the council-house ; others were punished by the galleys 
by banishment, or fines. 

Thus sometimes here, sometimes there, numerous civi. 
discords and disputes were added to the quarrel about 
creeds and churches, so that it seemed as if Switzerland 
would never find rest, only she was no longer disturbed 
by foreign powers. Affliction and distress were in many 
households. At last, to all their miseries was superadded 
a contagious pestilence, which swept away many persons 
(1697), especially in the city of Bale and in Aargau. It 
manifested itself by plague-boils on the lower- stomach. 
The temperature was unwholesome, and the preceding 
winter had been very warm. Venomous worms and cater- 
pillars devastated trees, grass and fruits ; and never before 
had so many water-mice and moles been seen. This lasted 
until the year drew towards its close, and a more severe 
winter appeared. 



CHAPTER XLIY. 

HOW THE TOGGENBURGERS WERE DEPRIVED OF THEIR ANCIENT 
LIBERTIES BY THE ABBOT OF ST. GALLEN, AND WHAT HAPPENED 
IN CONSEQUENCE. 

[A. D. 1700 to 1712.] 

The ancient Swiss became independent, and thus re- 
mained so long as they did not fear foreign powers, nor 
flatter them from motives of interest or vanit}^ And they 
were esteemed by other nations, so long as they them- 
selves esteemed eternal justice more than life. But when 
from cupidity or cowardice they preferred prudence to right, 
when it became usual for them to sell flesh and blood into 



-1'712.] GLORY AND DEBASEMENT. 195 

foreign service, when the principal men allowed them- 
selves to be bound by the gold chains and decorations of 
princes, then ruin fell on the fatherland. Men abased 
themselves abroad, in order to stand high at home ; they 
preferred their own canton to the Confederacy, their own 
family to their canton; they were small in great things, 
and great in small ; they sought employments from 
seljQsh interest ; they sold offices at auction, or disposed of 
them as marriage-dowers; the Swiss were called free, 
but most of them were wretched subjects and had less 
freedom and fewer rights than the serfs of kings ; craft 
and violence were constantly employed to diminish more 
and more the few franchises of the people, and to increase 
the absolute power of the masters. 

Such was especially the lot of the country of Toggen- 
burg. There the communes, by favor of the old counts 
of Toggenburg, had formerly acquired great privileges : a 
voice in the appointment of the higher and lower tribunals, 
in the disbursement of fines and other communal moneys ; 
a right through their general and other assemblies over 
the administration of the public revenue and over the mi- 
litary force. No man, except one of themselves, could be 
appointed bailiff over them. 

But when the abbot of St. Gallen (1468), for 14,500 
Ehenish florins, purchased from a baron of Earon those 
rights over the land which the latter had inherited from 
the old counts of Toggenburg, the abbot desired also to 
appropriate rights which he had not purchased, but had 
solemnly confirmed to the people. And as the Toggen- 
burgers had (148 6) made an alliance with the cantons of 
Glarus and Schwyz for the protection of their own privi- 
leges, so later (1469), the abbot made another defensive 
alliance with the same cantons for the protection of his 
rights. As his abbey was an ally of the Confederacy, but 
he himself a titular prince of the holy German empire, he 
took advantage of this double character to become, or to 
appear, more than he really was. When interest dictated, 
he acted against the emperor as a free Confederate, or 
against the Confederates as a prince of the empire and a 
vassal of the imperial throne. 



196 GRADUAL ENCROACHMENTS. [iTOO- 

He behaved with moderation at first ; he began by ques- 
tioning the freedom of the Toggenburgers, and by calling 
the people his serfs (1510) that they might insensibly be- 
come accustomed to the name. Finally he attacked their 
franchises. This occasioned many lawsuits before the pro- 
tecting cantons. But the protecting cantons were favor- 
able to the abbot. So he first (1539) secured an appeal to 
his tribunal from all the courts in the land ; then (154:0) he 
assumed the exclusive right of appointing all judges and of 
disbursing the confiscated property of criminals ; also the 
right to select a foreigner as bailiff, and to manage without 
question the estates of all churches and curacies ; the right 
of hunting and fishing ; afterwards (1543), the appointment 
of pastors to all the churches, of recorders and constables 
(1555), and the power to grant the right of citizenship (1596). 
Finally all general and other assemblies of the people 
were forbidden, and the military power passed entirely 
into the hands of the bishop (1654). Then he ruled as he 
pleased ; allowed forced recruiting for foreign service ; filled 
all oflS-ces with his own creatures ; looked on with indif- 
ference when magistrates and convents, by craft and in- 
trigues, obtained possession of the best estates, or when the 
public fines were raised to exorbitant sums. 

At last abbot Leodegar Burgisser thought himself abso- 
lute master in the land. He ordered the people to build 
and maintain, at their own expense, a new highway 
throuofh the Hummel wald. And when the delesfates of 
the people represented to him that this was a more grie- 
vous burden on the Toggenburgers than the old labor- 
dues and day-service from which they had twice ransomed 
themselves, he condemned these men to a fine of 1540 
crowns, compelled them to recant in open court, and de- 
prived them of civil rights. 

Then (1701) the oppressed Toggenburgers laid their com- 
plaints before Schwyz and Grlarus. Grlarus was touched by 
the sufferings of the poor country -people ; as was Schwyz, 
although the Toggenburgers were of the reformed faith. 
" Even if the Toggenburgers were Turks and Heathens," 
said the Schwyzers in general assembly, " they are never- 
theless our Confederates and fellow-countrymen, and 



-]in.] \ NABHOLZ o:f^ 2:uiiiau. lOT 

we will see justice done to them." This displeased the 
abbot and he appealed to all the cantons, invoking the 
Confederate right. This occasioned many fruitless Diets 
from year to year. Zurich, and Lucerne, who were also 
protectors of the abbot, took part in the angry quarrel. 
Many supported the Toggen burgers, because they also 
were reformed and were persecuted for their religion ; 
many opposed the bishop, because he had recently made a 
defensive alliance with Austria and treated the country of 
Toggenburg as if it were a fief of the emperor and empire. 
The longer the quarrel continued, the greater, as usual, be- 
came the confusion of the matter. Finally the ancient re- 
ligious hate added its poison also. 

For when Schwyz and the catholic cantons saw that 
Zurich and Berne supported the Toggenburgers, and en- 
couraged them to maintain their ancient rights, principally 
from religious sympathy, Schwyz adopted the party of the 
abbot of St. Gallen and declared (1703) : " The newer rights 
of the abbot, his deeds and charters supersede the old 
franchises of the country, and without consent of Glarus 
and Schwyz no new reformed church shall be established 
in Toggenburg." But this did not deter Zurich and Berne, 
and the Toggenburgers still asserted their ancient fran- 
chises. Now came the imperial envoy and brought a docu- 
ment from his master which said : " The emperor must 
decide, because the country of Toggenburg is incontestibly 
an original imperial fief" But Zurich and Berne replied : 
" Toggenburg lies within the Confederate borders, and the 
abbot of St. Gallen has for many years recognized us as 
arbiters." The embassadors of Holland and of the kings 
of Prussia and England also encouraged the Zurichers and 
Bernese to resist the emperor. 

As the quarrel extended more and more, and discord, 
feuds and assassinations prevailed in Toggenburg, because 
the abbot of St. Gallen himself designedly sowed dissen- 
sion between the catholic and reformed inhabitants, a 
wise man of Zurich, named ISTabholz, attempted, by his 
counsels, to restore peace and order. His efforts were 
fruitless. The abbot obstinately insisted on all his claims 
to power. The Toggenburgers, however, disregarded 



198 DECLARATION 01^ WAR. [1700- 

them, and would not obey liim, but drove his governors, 
officers and soldiers out of the castles. Thereupon the 
abbot occupied with troops all the bridges, roads and 
passes of the ancient territory of St. Gallen. The Toggen- 
burgers armed. Avoyer Durler of Lucerne, a zealous 
friend to the abbot, called on the catholic cantons to put 
down the insurgents. Avoyer Willading of Berne op- 
posed him, and called upon the reformed cantons to draw 
the sword without delay against the catholics, in order to 
protect the ancient rights of the Toggenburgers and to 
defend the reformed church. Twelve years had this quar- 
rel lasted, and it became more and more bitter every day. 

As soon as the Toggenburgers saw that Zurich and 
Berne would protect them, and learned that inspector 
Bodmer was coming to defend them with nearly three 
thousand Zurichers, they declared war against the abbot 
(April 12, 1712) for the maintenance of their franchises. 
Nabholz, hitherto their friend and counsellor, now became 
their leader, called out the landsturm, and fought for them 
against the abbot's people as faithfully with the sword as 
he had done with the pen. The convent and castles of 
the abbot were seized, but he threw sixteen companies of 
infantry into the city of Wyl for its defence. In the 
mean while the troops of Zurich pillaged and sacked the 
territory of St. Gallen without hindrance. 

Now Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and Zug also 
seized their arms, covered their frontiers, marched upon 
Toggenburg and occupied the county of Baden. The 
nuncio counted out to them 26,000 crowns from the papal 
treasure, and at Kome prayers were offered to the saints in 
their behalf. The priests distributed consecrated bullets 
and amulets to the soldiers. 

Thereupon Berne drew 10,000 crowns from her treasury 
and sent fifteen thousand men into the field. She sta- 
tioned troops on all her frontiers, and even in the county 
of Lenzburg, near Othmarfingen, against Baden and the 
free bailiwicks. A Bernese battalion marched towards 
the Stilli ; under cover of twelve field-pieces they crossed 
the Aar, and joined the troops of Zurich near Wurelingen. 
The latter had, by this time, made themselves masters of 



-1712.] Major feller. 199 

all Thurgau. Thus war and cries of war prevailed 
throughout the land. Even the Yalaisians were in full 
march to support the catholic cantons. 

Glarus remained neutral in this distui;bance, as did Solo- 
tJiurn and the bishop of Constance. Bale and Freiburg 
lamented this war of Swiss against Swiss, and exhorted 
them to an amicable settlement, but too late. The abbot 
of St. Gallon sent his valuables for safety to Lindau (a 
Suabian city on an island in the lake of Constance) ; he 
himself retired to Rorschach, and called upon the cities 
of St. Gallon and the cantons of Appenzell and Glarus for 
assistance ; they did not help him, but maintained their 
neutrality. Thereat the emperor, from Presburg in Hun- 
gary, ordered the Suabian circle to support the abbot of 
St. Gallen. 



CHAPTER XLY. 

THE TOGGENBURGER WAR. SECOND BATTLE NEAR VILLMERGEN. 
PEACE CONCLUDED AT AARAU. 

[A. D. 1712 to 1718.] 

The Zurichers and Bernese had marched with ten thou- 
sand men against the little city of Wyl to besiege the 
bishop's troops therein. Thither came Nabholz also, with 
two thousand Toggenburgers and a body of men from 
Thurgau. The little city was cannonaded and bombarded, 
the country and villages were ravaged. But the abbot's 
soldiers defended themselves very valiantly under major 
Felber, and made several bloody sallies. And when the 
men of Thurgau withdrew from the besiegers, by whom 
they were held in little esteem, Felber extended his forays 
as far as Braunau and Summeri. So cruel were his people, 
that they killed two defenceless men, and cut off a wo- 
man's hands and feet. Then the cry for vengeance against 
such cruelty arose throughout all Thurgau; the raging 
landsturm marched once more on Weinfeldeu ; among 



200 FLIGHT OP THE ABBOT. [l712- 

them were seen women, and children twelve years old 
And thej were as cruel to the catholics as these had been 
to the reformed. 

Then said Nabholz to the generals of Berne and Zarich : 
"Let us invade the abbot's ancient states, whence come 
many of the defenders of Wyl. When they see their 
huts and villages burning in the distance, they will quit 
the others, and the city will be weakened." So with one 
thousand men he entered the abbot's ancient country, near 
Oberglatt. And when those in the city saw their dwell- 
ings burning in the distance, they hastily left their ranks 
to fight for their huts. Thereupon the city was distracted 
with fear and surrendered to her enemies (22 May). The 
abbot's soldiers dispersed and were so angry with their 
leader Felber, that his life was not safe, and he was obliged 
to seek protection of the besiegers, in order to escape to 
Bernardszell. But the furious people pursued him there, 
dragged him from the curate's house, set him on a sorry 
horse, led him withx, shouts and insults to the bridge over 
the Sitter, and killed him with four gun-shots through the 
body. Then they hacked his corpse with their knives, 
and threw it into the waters of the Sitter (24 May). 

In the mean while valiant Nabholz had penetrated still 
further into the ancient territory of the abbot of St. Grah 
len. There the inhabitants of Gossau surrendered to him, 
after having, in their anger, assassinated their own general. 
Two days before they had repulsed a thousand Toggen- 
burgers, who had been sent against them with fire and 
sword, and who, in their flight, had strangled the defence- 
less catholic priest of Niederglatt in a stable. The ban- 
ners of Zurich and Berne advanced victorious through the 
whole of Thurgau as far as the city of St. Gallen. Here 
they placed a garrison in the city and at Rorschach. The 
abbot, full of fear, had already fled to Augsburg with his 
valuables. 

When the Toggenburgers saw that their cause was suc- 
cessful, they condemned to death several of the abbot's 
people who had betrayed them. They entirely threw off 
the abbot's sovereignty, annulled also their alliance with 
Schwyz and Grlarus, and said to the people of Gaster, Uz- 



_ ' -nil, ^i^4H0 

-niSj SURRENDER OF BADEIT. zDl 

nach, Gams and otlier places : '* Let us form a single re- 
public, which shall be like the free cantons of the Confed- 
erates." And thej drew up a constitution, which they 
carried to Aarau, where the cantons were holding a Diet. 
But this plan displeased the lords of Zurich and Berne, be- 
cause thej preferred to have the Toggenburgers as subjects 
rather than as free fellow-confederates. Even Nabholz, 
the zealous defender of the Toggenburgers' cause, refused to 
support their petition, though they offered him much money. 

In the mean while, also, two thousand Bernese had 
passed the Aar near Stilli and united with three thousand 
Zurichers, led by colonel Hans Caspar Wertmuller. They 
crossed the Hasenberg to bring the county of Baden into 
complete subjection, drove out the scattered forces of the 
catholic cantons and advanced as far as the city of Mellin- 
gen. On the opposite side, from the county of Lenzburg, 
came seven thousand Bernese over the Bunz. The catho- 
lic garrisons fled to Baden. Mellingen was taken without 
a blow. All the inhabited places of the county of Baden 
were compelled to render homage to the conquerors, as did 
the city of Bremgarten. Then the army marched to Baden 
to besiege the fortress. Wertmuller encamped among the 
vineyards on the Lagerberg and awaited the arrival of the 
Bernese, who had made a circuit from Mellingen to Fahr- 
windisch, along the Keuss, to attack Baden on the oppo- 
site side. The besieged kept up a heavy fire from the city, 
from the square of the capuchin-church and from the lofty 
castle, upon Wertmuller's camp. The Zurichers replied 
with forty cannons and mortars. The churches, the tower 
and many houses were greatly injured. The parapet of 
the castle fell with a crash upon the rocks below. Then 
on the other side, near the great baths, over against the cas- 
tle, appeared the Bernese also, with twenty field-pieces, 
howitzers and mortars. This so terrified the besieged, that 
they surrendered on hard conditions (81 May). The com- 
mander of the fortress, Crivelli of Uri, marched out with 
his garrison, but without artillery. 

This ev^nt and the fact that the Kheinthal, also, was 
obliged to render homage to Berne and Zurich, occasioned 
great troui|}le, discord and disorder among the catholic cau- 
9* ' ' 



202 ACKERMANN OF UNTERWALDEN. [1712- 

tons. Some wished for peace, others for war. The em- 
bassadors of Austria and France promised assistance ; the 
pope sent money ; Freiburg and Solothurn took up arms 
for them ; so did Yalais and all the catholics in the com- 
mon bailiwicks. But thereat those reformed cantons which 
had hitherto been quiet, threatened to arm also, and the 
evangelicals in the common bailiwicks prepared to support 
Zurich and Berne. Thus, at this time, one hundred and 
fifty thousand Swiss stood in arms for bloody conflict with 
each other; never had the Confederacy raised so many 
troops to repel a foreign enemy. But one sword kept the 
others in the scabbard. France and Austria did, indeed, 
march their troops towards the frontiers ; but the English, 
Dutch and Prussians, on the other side, held them also in 
check. 

While the deputies of the Confederates were assembled 
at Aarau and negotiating for peace, bailiff and knight Ack- 
ermann of Unterwalden marched with five thousand men 
against the bridge of Sins, where lay some Bernese troops: 
three hundred entrenched in the church -yard of Sins, seven 
hundred near the village of Auw. These latter were sur- 
prised, so that they saved themselves with difficulty. Many 
Bernese were slain. Colonel Monier of Berne, who fought 
valiantly, first in the church-yard, then in the church, was 
compelled to surrender with his soldiers. They would 
have been massacred without pity by the troops of Unter- 
walden, Schwyz and Zug, had not Ackermann, who was 
himself wounded, withstood the bloodthirsty men with no- 
ble heroism (20 Ju^y). On the other side, also, the Schwyz- 
ers advanced (22 July) against the lake of Zurich, near 
Hutten and Bellenschanz. But here they encountered the 
valiant Zuricher leader John Caspar WertmuUer. Seven 
hours long fought the Schwyzers; they lost two hundred 
men ; but they were forced to give way before the Zurich- 
ers. On their slain were found consecrated letters, with 
numbers, crosses and promises of certain victory. 

An army of the catholics, over nine thousand strong, 
crossed the country above Muri to Yillmergen, where the 
Bernese were posted with eight thousand men. Here, close 
to the same place where the Bernese had once already (24 



-1718.] BERNE^S SUPERIORITY IN ARMS. 203 

Jan., 1656) experienced a bloody defeat from the catholic 
cantons, below Dintikon and Hembrunn, the earth was 
again to be reddened with the blood of Swiss, shed by 
Swiss. It was the 25th of July, 1712. The thunder of 
artillery opened the fight. It lasted four hours. Then the 
Bernese spread terror and confusion among the people of 
the catholic cantons, broke their array and slew them in 
their flight. Two thousand and more of the catholics cov- 
ered the field with their bodies. 

When, after this, the Toggenburgers subdued Uznach 
and Gaster, the city of Rapperswyl yielded to the Zu- 
richers, and the victors entered from all sides into the ter- 
ritory of the catholics, the latter became alarmed and sued 
for peace. 

Lucerne and Uri had already signed a treaty of peace at 
the Diet of Aarau (18 July); but the Lucerner peasants, 
urged, in the name of Grod and of religion, by the papal 
nuncio and by their priests and monks, who were opposed 
to peace, marched against the city to force their govern- 
ment to renew the war, then finally against the Bernese at 
Villmergen. Here they found their ruin, as has been rela- 
ted. Even after the battle of Yillmergen, some two thou- 
sand men of Willisau rose against the government of 
Lucerne ; but they were soon reduced to obedience by 
Bernese troops and compelled to pay heavy costs. The 
Bernese soldiers were the best in the Confederacy, in equip- 
ment, discipline, the quality and management of their arms. 
Finally (9th and 11th August, 1712) a general peace 
was concluded at Aarau, greatly to the advantage of the 
conquerors. The Rve catholic cantons were obliged, not 
only to yield to Zurich and Berne their rights over Baden, 
Bapperswyl and the lower free bailiwicks, but also to asso- 
ciate Berne in the sovereignty over Thurgau and Bhein- 
thal, whereby the votes and rights of the two religious 
parties were equalized therein. Grlarus also participated, 
with Berne and Zurich. 

The humbled abbot Leodegar of St. Gallen would not 
accept the peace, but remained obstinate and self-exiled 
until he died. In the mean while, Zurich and Berne held 
possession of his territory. But when the new abbot Joseph 



204 THE NUNCIO CARACCIOLI. [1701- 

subscribed the peace at Rorschach (1718), his estates were 
restored to him ; even the Toggenburgers were again sub- 
ject to him, but with greater privileges and rights, under 
the protection of Zurich and Berne. Only the pope and 
his nuncio rejected the treaty of Aarau and declared it 
null. But the reconciled Confederates cared little for this, 
and when the people of some bailiwicks of the canton of 
Lucerne were again excited by the priests against their 
government, the latter introduced into the city a garrison 
from Entlibuch, demanded of the pope the imposition of a 
tax upon the convents for the costs of the war and also the 
recall of the nuncio Caraccioli, whom they called the ori- 
ginator of all the trouble. The catholic cantons long felt 
the bitter effects of this war ; for they had incurred great 
expenses. Schwyz levied a tax of five crowns on each 
household ; Lucerne was obliged to exercise force to raise 
her share of the costs ; Uri to appease her subjects in Le- 
ventina by important franchises (1718), and thenceforth to 
call them '' dear and faithful compatriots." 



CHAPTER XLYI. 

CONDITION OF THE SWISS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. THOMAS MASSNEr's QUARREL. 

[A. D. 1701 to 1714.] 

After the fratricidal battle of Villmergen, the Confed- 
erates were engaged in no foreign or domestic war for the 
space of eighty-six years. But this period was not one of 
happiness, of quiet or of glory ; it passed in constant dif- 
ferences, sometimes of one canton with the others, some- 
times of the magistrates with their subjects. During every 
ten years there were, now here, now there, fresh intrigues, 
fresh conspiracies, fresh revolts, until the rotten edifice of 
the old Confederacy crumbled at the first blow given to it 
by the hostile hand of France. 

The first wars of the ancient Confederates were under- 



-1714.] SARASIN OF GENEVA. 205 

taken on their own account and for their protection against 
the oppressors of their rights and Uberties. Thereby they 
obtained an imperishable glory among the nations of the 
earth. Then the cantons and cities, which had become 
free, undertook numerous wars to acquire sovereignties and 
subjects and to extend their limited territories. They 
reaped internal discord and an equivocal reputation. The 
deeds of the greatest conquerors finally fall into obli- 
vion or contempt, as they are seldom for the benefit of hu- 
manity. Afterwards, they sold their soldiers for hire to 
foreign countries and foreign wars, and with the blood of 
their brave men purchased for the sons of noble families 
large pay, annual pensions, golden chains, decorations and 
titles, such as kings are accustomed to confer on their ser- 
vants. Therewith despotism and pride and a shameless 
luxury entered into a few great families, foreign manners 
and foreign vices into the cabins of the people ; Switzer- 
land became the theatre of the scandalous intrigues of 
foreign embassadors and of the ambition of the home gov- 
ernments for unlimited power over their subjects. Then 
the Confederates showed more friendship for foreign kings 
than for each other; thev forbade free emi^-ration between 
the cantons, and even prohibited the purchase and sale of 
the most necessary articles. Their Diets were heartless 
ceremonials and their mean deeds contradicted their impos- 
ing words. Finally, the Swiss drew the sword, no longer 
against foreign potentates but, urged by sectarian hate, by 
envy, ambition or party spirit, against each other only. 
Thereby they more than once sullied the glory of their 
forefathers, and impelled each other to the brink of a com- 
mon abyss. 

In vain did wise patriots urge that the Confederate bond 
should be ameliorated and strengthened before it was en- 
tirely loosed. In vain, also, in the Diet itself, did the 
evangelical cantons propose a new Confederate constitu- 
tion; the selfishness of the majority caused it to be re- 
jected. And when Sarasin, a Genevese, suggested that a 
supreme federal authority should be created, by means of 
which the divided Confederacy would secure more consoli- 
dation and unity, he was laughed at. 

$ 



206 RECIPROCAL DiSTRtJST. [l70l- 

As an offset, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden assembled 
(24:th June, 1713) with great pomp at the Kutli, where, four 
hundred years before, their fathers had sworn together the 
first oath of freedom. There, with solemn oath, they re- 
newed their most ancient bond,, but with the saddening 
remembrance of their misfortune at Villmergen and with 
inimical feelings towards the large cantons in their hearts. 
And two years afterwards (9th May, 1715), the catholic 
cantons made a treaty at Solothurn with France, whose 
king was then the most bitter enemy of the evangelicals. 
This one-sided treaty frightened the reformed cantons, and 
made them distrustful. They suspected that it contained 
some dangerous secret articles, that foreign troops were to 
be called into the country, the smaller cantons strengthened 
at the expense of the larger, Geneva and Yaud restored to 
the duke of Savoy, Thurgau and the county of Kyburg to 
the emperor. To the honor of the Confederates, the future 
did not justify these suspicions, but the suspicions them- 
selves showed the reciprocal animosity and distrust which 
existed. 

Parties were constantly formed, not for the glory and 
happiness of the whole Confederacy against foreign powers, 
but for the benefit of some small territory, or for the benefit 
of foreigners, against fellow-confederates. Some were at- 
tached to the emperor, others to France, a very few, only, 
to Switzerland. Hence crafty embassadors of foreign 
princes obtained a constantly increasing power in the land, 
to the constantly increasing dishonor of the Confederates 
and to the misery of many a family, as shown by the fol- 
lowing instance. 

A young man from Grisons, who was pursuing his stu- 
dies at Geneva, took a ride for pleasure into the neighboring 
territory of Savoy. There the French embassador caused 
him to be secretly seized (1710) and confined in a fortress, 
because the young man's father, Thomas Massner, a lord 
of the council of Coire, was a partisan of Austria. When 
the father learnt the imprisonment of his innocent son, and 
had in vain demanded justice and sought assistance, he 
became very angry, and, with an armed band, seized the 
brother of Merveilleux, the French charge at Coire, that he 



-ITH.] THE DUKE OF VENDOME. 207 

might hold him as a hostage. An accommodation was 
made ; the councillor gave up his prisoner and asked pardon 
of the French embassador at Solothurn. But, as he did not 
thereby obtain his son's release, he sought fresh vengeance. 
And he lay in wait for the duke of Vendome, grand 
prior of France, as he was passing through Sargansland, 
took him prisoner and carried him to the Austrians at 
Feldkirch. The government of the Grison republic peti- 
tioned both France and Austria, to obtain the simultaneous 
release of the innocent prisoners; but without success. 
The foreign embassadors rather embittered the quarrel. 
It was in consequence of this dispute that the English em- 
bassador, who sided with the Austrians, was assassinated 
at the baths of Pfeffers; that the league of the Ten-juris- 
dictions took part for Thomas Massner, and a majority of 
the corporations of Coire appointed him bailiff of Maien- 
feld ; that the Confederate cantons outlawed this same man, 
as a violater of the rights of nations, and set a price of two 
hundred crowns on his head; that, finally, the Grisons 
themselves, in a criminal court held at Ilanz (17th Aug., 
1711), deprived him of civil rights, confiscated his property, 
condemned him to an ignominious death, and offered a 
thousand ducats as a reward to any one who would deliver 
him up. 

To prevent greater misfortunes, Thomas Massner had 
already obtained the release of the duke of Vendome, and 
had himself fled to the protection of the emperor at Vienna. 
Here he lived for a long while, an exile ; while his un- 
happy son languished, a prisoner, in a French fortress, and 
his deserted wife, a widow, in the Rhetian mountains. 
And, as his life was heavy, far from his home, he one day 
undertook to return. He could also perceive that the em- 
peror's favor diminished daily. The favor of the people 
and of great lords is like April weather and thin vapor. 

In his own country the sentence of the criminal court 
of Ilanz and the outlawry of the Confederacy still hung 
over his head. He wandered among the Alps of Glarus. 
He was betrayed, and, by order of the French embassador, 
pursued. One day, when he was trying to escape from his 
pursuers and had regained the Austrian territory on the 



208 WAR NOT THE [l7l4- 

right bank of tlie Rhine, his wagon was upset. Old Mass- 
ner died of the fall. 

When afterwards (1714) peace was negotiated at Baden 
between France and Austria, a nephew of Thomas Massner 
was among the emperor's plenipotentiaries. By his 
cousin's intercession, young Massner was finally freed from 
imprisonment, after long negotiations with the French. 
And when he returned home after so many years, he v^as 
received by his people with joy, as a triumphant martyr, 
and repaid for his sufferings by honors and dignities. 

Thus did foreign embassadors trifle with the Swiss upon 
Swiss soil, after having divided them by courtier-like 
artifices. 



CHAPTER XLYII. 

DISTURBANCES IN ZURICH, SCHAFFHAUSEN AND THE BISHOPRIC 

OF BALE. 

[A. D. 1T14 to 1T40.] 

It has often been said : " War is the greatest of the evils 
of life." But so said not the ancient heroic Confederates, 
who first glorified the name of Swiss before Grod and man. 
They marched to battle for their holy right; they knew 
that there was something better than comfort and effemi- 
nate ease, and they thought: "The greatest of the evils 
of life is slavery under the sceptre of pride and injustice." 

And it is a fact that from the time of the last battle of 
Yillmergen until the destructive invasion of the French, 
though less than a century and in the midst of peace, 
Switzerland suffered greater calamities than in all her pre- 
vious wars with Austria and Burgundy. For, while rust 
corroded the swords of the Winkelrieds, the Fon tanas, the 
Waldmanns, the Hallwyls, the Erlachs, contemptible self- 
ishness and poisonous luxury corroded still more com- 
pletely the glorious bond of the ancients, and the Confed- 
eracy became decomposed like a putrefying corpse. And 
the children bedecked the corpse with the glittering tio- 



-1740.] GRElATESt' Oi' F.VILS. 2()d 

phies of their fathers, that no one might know the soul had 
departed from it. 

Nothing great was done. Greatness seemed to all, or to 
most, to consist in acquiring riches, not virtues ; in being 
lords and subjects, not free citizens. Some purchased the 
office of bailiff, and sold justice and injustice, like common 
wares. Some begged for pensions, orders and titles from 
foreign courts. Some sought to obtain places in the ma- 
gistrature, not bj services to their country but by marriage 
with the daughters of council-lords. Others sought other 
advantages; few, laudable occupations. The people of the 
subject-districts had barely more rights than that of sharing 
with their cattle the labors of the field, and the govern- 
ments were so blind that they feared the enlightenment of 
the country -people. The sovereign cities and cantons un- 
dermined the liberties of the subjects ; the ruling families 
in the cities, those of the burghers. From time to time, 
those whose rights were encroached upon, awoke from 
their slumber, armed themselves with courage, recovered 
their rights, or at least prevented further encroachments. 
But all these petty disputes do not deserve the attention 
of posterity ; in their time they hardly excited that of the 
other Confederates. 

In Zurich, where the citizens had always preserved a 
free spirit, a trifling question between two trades unexpect- 
edly caused the reformation of several abuses in the com- 
monwealth. Two parchment-makers accused a currier 
with encroaching on their trade (October, 1712). This 
personal dispute soon extended to the two trades and then 
to all the citizens. The ordinances and prerogatives of the 
industrial corporations were examined and regulated, the 
legislative functions of the citizens determined, the statutes 
of the ancient constitutional compact revised to accord 
with the spirit of the times, and all these useful reforms 
embodied in a new fundamental law, which was approved 
and sworn to by the citizens (17th Dec, 1718). 

The burghers of the city of Schaffhausen had already, 
after a long struggle, obtained the same advantages by a 
revision and amelioration of their constitution (1689). For 
at Schaffhausen the little council had insensibly usurped 



s* 



210 THE WILCHINGENERS. [l714- 

arbitrary power, first by specious goodness and fraud, 
which had been successful through the inattention of the 
corporations, and then by the bold abuse of authority. 
The rights of the citizens had been disregarded, and the 
state-property managed wilfully and selfishly. This is 
alwaj^s the case when those who administer the law hold 
themselves above the law, and think that their will is to 
take the place of law. 

But though the abuses of arbitrary power were put an 
end to within the walls of the city of Schaffhausen, this 
was not by any means the case as regarded the rights of 
the country-people. Hence, when the government once 
established a new excise in the village of Wilchingen 
(1717), the village refused to submit, and, when the gov- 
ernment recognized its error and removed the excise, 
brought forward other complaints, also well founded. 
Foreign lords and powers, as usual, did not neglect this 
opportunity to meddle in a petty domestic difficulty ; pre- 
texts were never wanting. Thus the people of Wilchin- 
gen were induced to refuse the usual homage, though 
Schaffhausen sent troops and offered a ready hearing of 
all their complaints, because the deputies of the village were 
encouraged by flattering promises from the imperial court 
at Vienna. But, afterwards, when Austria feared a rup- 
ture with France on more important questions, and wished 
to secure the good will of the Confederacy, the Wilchin- 
geners were dismissed from Yienna (1726). Many of the 
rebels were punished by confiscation of their property; 
others were banished. Wearied by this dispute of many 
years, the village rendered the long refused homage 
(1729). 

Wilfulness always occasions disasters; and the war of a 
government against its own subjects, even when success- 
ful, confers but small glory. Such was the experience of 
the bishop of Bale also, at this period. 

He was lord of a fine territory, stretching from the lake 
of Bienne to the city of Bale, through the valleys of the 
Jura, with many cities, castles and towns. Therein were 
the cities of Bienne and Neustadt, Pruntrut, Delsperg, St. 
Ursits and Lauffen, as well as Erguel or St. Immerthal, 



-1'740.] BANiS^ERET WlSARD. 211 

the Freiberg, and the signiories of Esch, Birseck and 
Zwingen. 

When John Conrad of Eeinach became prince-bishop 
(1705) and received the homage of the country, the ban- 
neret of the peasants, Wisard, in the name of the people, 
made a reservation of their chartered franchises and of 
their defensive treaty with Berne. The bishop would ac- 
knowledge nothing of the kind, required an oath without 
reservation, deprived the banneret of his dignities and 
offices, and thought that, where might was there also was 
right. So thought not the Munsterthalers. The banneret 
went to Berne, reminded the city of her anciently-granted 
protectorate and demanded assistance. Berne acknowl- 
edged the justice of the claim ; and, as the bishop persisted 
in his wilfulness and continued to make innovations and 
to harass those who opposed him, she sent a thousand men 
to the borders for their protection, restored to the coun- 
try its former privileges and to the banneret his office. 
Thereat the bishop was much incensed. He called on the 
catholic cantons, and they thought to interfere with the aid 
of France. But Berne relied on the support of the evan- 
gelical cantons and of England. When the bishop saw 
that he could do nothing, he made a friendly settlement 
with Berne (30th March, 1706) and confirmed the Mun- 
sterthalers in their rio^hts. But he did this with unwillins: 
heart and occasioned them vexation after vexation, espe- 
cially about the reformed worship in the country. Berne 
once more clashed her arms (1711). The first threat was 
sufficient. 

Then the bishop again confirmed the franchises of the 
Munsterthalers, at Aarberg, and consented to the bitter 
condition that, in case of any future complaint, if he did 
not satisfactorily reply, within three months, to the second 
and third summons of Berne, he should forfeit the sum of 
20,000 crowns, for which the prevostship of Munster was 
pledged. Although pope Clement XL at Kome was very 
indignant at this stipulation, by which heretics acquired a 
great advantage over catholics, the treaty was thencefor- 
ward respected. 

Frequently afterwards the bishops of B^le attempted to 



^12 BtTRGOMASTEJl CELlEil. [1714^ 

increase their sovereign power by arbitrary decisions and 
acts of violence. When the council of the city of Neustadt 
on the lake of Bienne banished a burgher of that city 
(1711) and his relatives appealed to the bishop against the 
council, the prince attempted, without right, to compel the 
council to revoke its sentence and to pay the costs of the 
suit. He arbitrarily deposed the burgomaster and five 
members of the council who would not submit, punished 
them by fines, outlawed them, pronounced sentence of 
death on burgomaster Celier, who had fled (1714), and 
broke up the whole council. Berne finally interfered, re- 
stored quiet in concert with the bishop, and secured the 
infringed freedom of the city. 

The bishop treated the city of Pruntrut also with the 
same harshness. This city held from the old emperors 
and lords many important franchises which had always 
been confirmed by the bishops. But when lord Jacob 
Sigismund of Keinach sat in the bishop's chair, he en- 
croached in many ways on the municipal rights. Influ- 
enced by the advice of his civil officer, the signior of Ram- 
schwag, he would listen to no complaints, but treated the 
district assemblies and their delegates as rebels. Then 
Pruntrut rose in defence of her established franchises. The 
bishop called on the catholic cantons for assistance. But 
their deputies, when they had carefully examined the 
whole matter, like honest men, said to the prince (1734) : 
"If princely prerogatives are to be maintained, the fran- 
chises of the subjects must also be respected." This quar- 
rel remained unsettled for seven years. The hearts of the 
people were embittered against their signior. And when 
he, angry with the Confederates, finally introduced French 
troops into his territory (1741) and arbitrarily punished 
his subjects in property, honor and life, they bowed in si- 
lence beneath the yoke. But they awaited the hour for 
vengeance, and it struck at last. 



-1'740.] CHARTER OF FRANCHISES. 213 

CHAPTER XLYIII. 

INSURRECTION OF THE WERDENBERGERS AGAINST GLARUS. 
[A. D. 1714 to 1T40.] 

About the same time there was much trouble and dis- 
tress in the little district of Werdenberg. After Glarus 
bought this country in 1517 from the barons of lieu wen, 
it was peacefully governed by bailiffs, who were replaced 
every three years. The Werdenbergers had, indeed, 
viewed with dissatisfaction their subjection to the Confed- 
eracy, because they thereby lost all hope of purchasing or 
otherwise obtaining their freedom. Already, in 1525, they 
had once been in full insurrection against their new mas- 
ters, but since then quiet had been undisturbed. The four 
thousand inhabitants of the three parishes possessed very 
excellent alps in the Toggenburg mountains, fine lands 
and orchards in the valleys, and gloried in many fran- 
chises. They preserved, as a St-cred treasure, the charter 
of these franchises, according U, which the governing bai- 
liff had no right to interfere in their communal affairs or 
to derive any benefit from the common pastures and 
woods. The bailiffs did not always respect these fran- 
chises, but assumed the management of the communal 
property, woods and alps ; increased the fines on the sale 
of mountain lands ; exercised arbitrary power respecting 
the right to the best chattels, the choice of oflScers and 
other things. This made bad blood among the people, 
and they appealed to the guarantee of their sealed charter. 

But one day (1705) when the fifteen parishes of the free 
land of Glarus were met in general assembly before their 
chief magistrates, some said : " The charter was granted 
by the council without assent of the parishes, and is there- 
fore invalid as well as derogatory to their sovereign rights." 
Then the assembly decided that the charter must be pro- 
duced for examination. 

Werdenberg unwillingly surrendered her treasure to 
the bailiff, Caspar Trumpi, for inspection and never re- 



214 HOMAGE REFUSED. [1714- 

ceived it back again. As the country made bitter bui 
always respectful complaints concerning the abstracted 
charter, a triple council, assembled at Glarus, promised 
that all the rights possessed by the Werdenbergers from 
the earliest times should be recognized in a single docu- 
ment, to be deposited with them. But they, distrustful on 
account of what had already occurred, demanded the orig- 
inal charter as their property ; and then, after fifteen years 
of useless complaint, refused the usual homage to the new 
bailiff (1719). The charter was promised to them, if they 
would do homage, and the landammann of Glarus said to 
the people assembled in the church of Grabs: "I am an 
old man with one foot already in the grave ; I hope the 
other may follow, if the promise be not kept !" But the 
confidence of the people, so often deceived, was not re- 
stored. 

Concerned at this, Glarus had recourse to the Yorort and 
to the Confederates assembled in Diet at Frauenfeld. Wer- 
denberg, also, did the same. The delegates of the county 
were sent away unheard, with orders to submit to their 
government and to render the homage. They obeyed 
(Julj^, 1720) but without desisting from their claims. Then 
Glarus sent for the delegates of Werdenberg to come and 
examine the documents and negotiate about the charter, 
under a safe-conduct to which her honor was pledged by 
oath. When they arrived, they were subjected to threats 
of violence, because they would not yield in their demands, 
and thrown into prison, where one of the firmest died sud- 
denly. The Werdenbergers were the more afflicted be- 
cause they saw that the rights of subjects and the rights of 
governments were not held equally holy by the Confede- 
rates. And forty men^f the three parishes swore together 
to sacrifice property and life rather than the franchises of 
their country. The agitation continued. The people be- 
came excited. The bailiff from Glarus was more like a 
prisoner than a governor, in his castle. He introduced 
seventy-five armed men from Glarus into it, as a garrison, 
in the dead of night. 

When the people heard this, they rang the alarm-bells, 
and crowds rushed in tumult ffom the communes to attack 



-1740.] SUBMISSION OF THE PEOPLE. 215 

the castle ; they were without discipline and without ex- 
perienced officers. As soon as the heavy artillery thun 
dered against them from the walls of the castle, they were 
all terrified and took to flight (21 Oct., 1721). Five days 
afterwards appeared the general of Grlarus, Bartholemeo 
Paravicini, with two thousand men. Deputies also came 
from the vorort Zurich. 

Then the Werdenbergers saw that their cause was lost, 
and, persuaded more by the sight of the superior force 
than by the eloquence of the envoys from Zurich, they 
brought their arms to the castle and gave them up. Then 
Glarus, advised by Berne and Zurich to treat with lenity 
the error of the misguided people, withdrew her troops on 
the very day the arms were surrendered, and marched 
them back to Azmoos, through storm and rain. 

But an ignorant people think neither of the past nor of 
the future, and, when a danger has passed, become as bold 
as they were before faint-hearted at its prospect. Not one 
of the insurgents appeared at the castle to answer, as they 
had all agreed to do. Each played the hero anew; they 
held open general assemblies, swore to maintain their 
rights, and built a bridge over the Khine to have a way for 
escape in the last extremity. 

As soon as the troops of Glarus entered a second time 
into the revolted district, the unarmed crowd of inhabitants 
fled over the Ehine, persuaded that poverty and exile were 
better than home with extinguished franchises. But it was 
winter; and the moans of the children, half dead with cold, 
and the bitter lamentations of the women broke the spirit 
of the men. They sent messengers to the castle of Wer- 
denberg and sued for mercy, and, after a few days, resigned 
to every fate, wandered back to their deserted cabins. A 
few, only, preferred voluntary exile to the serfdom to which 
the rest submitted by oath (31 Dec, 1721). 

Now Glarus passed sentence on the insurgents. The 
names of Leinhard Bensch of Basis, of Hans Bensch, Jacob 
Vofburger, Hans Eauw and Hans Senn, who had spoken 
for the people, were nailed to the gallows. Fines and con- 
fiscations, of more than 70,000 florins, deprivations of civil 
rights and banishment punished those who had shared in 



216 RESTORATION OF FRANCHISES. [17 li- 

the insurrection. But no one was deprived of life. The 
blood which, in civil troubles, flows from the scaffold upon 
a free soil, falls as the seed of curses and vengeance, which 
future generations must often reap in terror. 

Glarus, it is true, destroyed all the Werdenberger's claims 
to freedom ; but, a few years later, the shepherd-people on 
the Linth, impelled by a generous feeling, relieved their 
subjects from many of the ancient burdens, by wisely re- 
stricting the power of the bailiffs ; finally restored to the 
Werdenbergers their arras and honors, and never had rea- 
son to regret this generosity. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

PARTY -RAGE AND DISTURBANCES IN ZUG. POWER AND MISFOR- 
TUNES OF LANDAMMANN SCHUMACHER. 

[A. D. 1714 to 1740.] 

At the period when peace was restored to Glarus, it was 
driven away from the canton of Zug by party-rage. 

On th© bhore of a beautiful lake among the mountains 
lies the lictle cHy of Zug, not very secure on the soft bank, 
which has already twice (1435 and 1594) given way in 
parts and carried houses and gardens into the flood. The 
small district dependent on the city was early (1350 to 1484) 
bought from various knights and convents by savings of 
the municipal income, and governed by bailiffs. And the 
bailiwick of Hunenberg, which had ransomed itself from 
its lords (1414), voluntarily acknowledged the sovereignty 
of Zug, under reservation of its franchises. In the city it- 
self all the burghers had equal rights. Some noble fami- 
lies, however, who had lived there from very ancient times, 
generally secured the first offices to themselves, either as 
heirs of great riches or of great names, by their merit or 
the influence of party. They often occasioned serious dis- 
turbances, sometimes among the citizens, sometimes by 
lliQix rivalry, sometimes by selling their own and theJJ 



-1T40.J TiDELtS 2UflLAUBEK. 217 

country's services to foreign powers for gold and titles. 

The free communes of Aegeri, Menzingen and Baar, 
under their own constitutions and laws, independent of 
the city, formed with it the whole canton. The ammann, 
or chief of the republic, was chosen alternately from these 
four districts. The few prerogatives which the city enjoyed, 
and sometimes abused, served only to excite jealousy and 
hate in the country against the city. Not a century passed 
without tumultuous, sometimes bloody, quarrels between 
the two. Once (1702) it even went so far that Aegeri, 
Menzingen and Baar were on the point of separating from 
the city of Zug, and forming a canton apart, had they not 
been prevented by the Confederates. 

The Zurlaubens, barons of Thurm and Gestelenburg, 
were among the richest families of the land. For two 
hundred years, they had almost always been in possession 
of the highest state-offices, and in the favor and party of 
the French king, who extended to them the distribution 
of the French pensions, whether gratuitous or stipulated 
by treaty, and the office of purchasing adherents and votes 
for France. They had obtained from the city and com- 
munal councils the lucrative privilege of the government 
trade in salt, of which they annually imported six hundred 
casks from Upper Burgundy. The opponents of the Zur- 
laubens were looked upon as opponents of France and, 
consequently, as partisans of Austria. 

Among these was Anthony Schumacher, member of the 
council, a talented but violent man, who carried on a trade 
in the salt of Hall (a small Tyrolean town on the Inn, where 
are salt mines). He and other opponents of the ammann 
Fidelis Zurlauben complained, not without good reason, of 
the quality of the Burgundian salt; then questioned the 
faithful management of that business, and finally found 
fault with the partisan distribution of the French pensions 
and gratuities. At that time foreign powers freely distrib- 
uted presents in money to those Swiss whose venal fidelity 
had been proved, and by such gifts enlisted and purchased 
fresh hirelings and dependants. The communes of Baar 
and Menzingen countenanced these complaints and said : 
" The money should be equally divided among all the cit- 

10 T 



218 I'fiE flARTEN AND LINDEN. [1714- 

izens. Is not each of us, the least as well as the greatest, 
an ally of the king ?" When ammann Fidelis heard this, 
he distributed money and presents to a great many people, 
and kept open tables at the eating-houses, in order to se- 
cure to himself friends and partisans against the Ilarten 
(Hards) as his opponents were called. 

But when Josias Schicker of Baar, an enemy of Zurlau- 
ben, and one of the Harten, was ammann of the canton 
(1728) it was decided that there should be an equal distri- 
bution of the French gratuities and stipulated pensions. 
And, as France would not consent to this, the Harten be- 
came angry and persecuted the partisans of the French 
king, who were called Linden (Softs). They were mal- 
treated, and their places given to the partisans of Austria. 
Ammann Fidelis, accused of malpractice in appointments 
to civil and ecclesiastical offices and of having taken ex- 
cessive profit and usury, was condemned to restore his 
wrongly -acquired gains, and, when he fled to Lucerne, his 
property was confiscated and himself banished for one hun- 
dred and one years. He never saw his home again. Others 
of the Linden fled like him, and, like him, were punished. 
Even the ammanns Weber and Christopher Andermatt 
shared this fate, because they had once (1715) atSolothurn, 
in the name of Zug, signed a treaty with France, in which 
report said there was a secret article respecting the divi- 
sion of Switzerland among foreign powers. 

When the general assembly, two years afterwards (1731), 
conferred the dignity of ammann upon Anthony Schu- 
macher, the alliance with xthe king of France, who had 
sent neither pensions nor presents, was broken. Only one 
man, the council-lord Beat Caspar Utiger, was bold enough 
to warn the people of the dangers of such a proceeding : 
but he had to fly in haste from the country in order to save 
his life. 

Ammann Schumacher now established a new tribunal 
composed of nine of his most devoted adherents, which 
was invested with the greatest powers by the sovereign 
people. Fresh prosecutions were begun against the parti- 
sans of France. The prisons were filled with them. If 
any one escaped chains by flight, his name and ef^gy were 



-1740.] JOHl:! PETER STAtJB. 219 

hung on the gallows. Whoever pitied the banished or 
blamed the Harten, was compelled to stand in the pillory, 
or, for a whole year, to wear a red knit cap, the object of 
public derision. Schumacher even endeavored to detach 
Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden from the French alliance. 
He did all this, perhaps with the upright intention to free 
his country from the influence of foreign gold and foreign 
intrigues, perhaps with the hope that France would con- 
sent to the equal distribution of the gratuities and stipu- 
lated pensions and thus the credit of the Zurlaubens be 
destroyed. 

Two years long continued these doings of the well-inten- 
tioned but violent ammann. But many of the Harten, 
when they saw that their expectations were not realized, 
were softened and longed for quiet and their old friends. 
At this unexpected inconstancy of the people, Schumacher 
adopted unusual measures to prevent any union between 
the inhabitants and the exiles and any revolt against his 
authority. The communes were compelled to arm, to send 
captains into all the bailiwicks ; Baar and Menzingen to 
establish special guards. The gates of the city of Zug 
were repaired ; closed early and opened late. This occa- 
sioned astonishment, as no enemy was seen ; and gave rise 
to murmurs at the expense. 

When Schumacher's term of office expired, John Peter 
Staub was chosen ammann in his stead, and as none of 
Schumacher's promises to the people had been fulfilled, 
the Lindens increased greatly in favor. The new ammann 
himself took part with them, and followed the rushing 
torrent. Hence, when Schumacher, after several months, 
gave in his accounts of the state-money, and was found to 
have had considerable sums in hand without knowledge or 
permission of the council, he was dragged from the coun- 
cil-chamber and thrown into prison with his friends and 
followers. 

As soon as this was known in the land, the Harten were 
everywhere deposed from office, and complaints upon com- 
plaints were made against their severe government; the 
banished were recalled from exile and received in all the 
cabins with tears of joy. Anthony Schumacher, the vio* 



220 DEATH OF SCHUMACHER. [l71^ 

tim of party -hate rather than of justice, was led ignomi- 
niously to the gallows (9th March, 1785), where hung the 
names and effigies of the exiles. The executioner took 
them down. The humbled ammann was compelled to 
carry them on his back to the council-house. He asked 
only for life. On ten serious accusations, the judges con- 
demned him to perpetual banishment from the Confederacy 
and to three years of the galleys. But the people, who 
had before prized him so highly, demanded his blood. 
For fear of a riot, he was brought to the lake-shore, with 
irons on his hands and feet, before break of day in the 
-morning of 18th May, 1735. There his daughter shed 
upon his neck the tears of an everlasting farewell. The 
crowd stood by in silence and saw him, surrounded by a 
strong guard, enter the boat which was to bear him from 
a land, every league of which had for him onl}^ tears or 
curses. Popular favor is a false harlot; she repays her 
lovers' faith with affliction. Seven weeks after his expa- 
triation, death freed him, in the prison of Turin, from the 
miseries of the Sardinian galleys. 

But the old troubles were not banished from the land 
with him ; dissension and discontent lasted many years. 
When Zug renewed her alliance with France, the latter 
immediately sent presents to her adherents. But when 
the people learned this, a fresh storm burst forth (1746) ; 
those who had received the money were compelled to pay 
it into the treasury, and were, moreover, punished by 
heavy fines and banishment. Another outbreak was with 
difficulty prevented by the Confederates in 1768, and by 
their mediation, France was induced to furnish the people 
with Burgundian salt, as before, or with a compensation in 
money, which last, like the stipulated pensions, was to be 
equally divided among all the burghers in city and coun- 
try. 



-1740.] THE ZELLWEGERS. 221 



CHAPTER L. 

QUARREL OF THE HARTEN AND LINDEN IN THE OUTER RHODES OP 

APPENZELL. 

[A. D. 1714 to 1T40.] 

It is very unfortunate when magistrates forget that they 
are but the servants of the state, and wish to make the 
commonwealth serve their selfish interests, their vengeance 
or their pride. This had occasioned great trouble in the 
canton of Zug, and about the same time almost produced 
a civil war in that of Appenzell. 

Since the twelve old Rhodes or districts of Appenzell 
had separated in consequence of difference in faith, so that 
the Inner Rhodes at the foot of the high mountains re- 
mained catholic, and the Outer, on both banks of the Sit- 
ter, reformed, they had indeed counted in the Confederacy 
as a single canton, but, as regarded themselves, they were 
two communities, independent of each other in faith, cus- 
toms and laws. 

The old borough-town of Appenzell remained the chief 
town of the Inner Rhodes. But the Outer Rhodes, which 
were unequally divided by the Sitter, had long disputes 
with each other, sometimes about the location of their 
chief-place, sometimes about the choice of magistrates. 
The people east of the Sitter were more numerous than 
those on the west, and were jealous of their rights. Finally, 
each portion chose its own magistrates, and Trogen be- 
came the chief place of the former, Herisau that of the 
latter. The jealousy on both sides was not thereby dimi- 
nished, but rather increased. 

At Trogen lived the influential family of the Zellwe- 
gers, enriched by commerce and manufactures. In Heri- 
sau flourished the family of the Wetters. One of the 
latter held the office of landammann in the year that the 
city of St. Gallen had a fresh dispute with the Appenzell 
ers respecting tolls (1732). St. Gallen said : ''Let the dis 
pute be referred to two Confederate cantons as arbitrators, 



222 THE WETTERS. [1714- 

agreeablj to the 83d article of the Eorschach treaty of 
peace, made after the Toggenburg war." 

Landammann Wetter declined and said : " The treaty 
of Eorschach is not obligatory on our people, because it was 
not confirmed by any assembly of the communes, but con- 
cealed from them and signed by a few chief men only, o-n 
their own responsibility. If they were still alive they 
would be punished as traitors to justice and liberty, and 
for having given to the city of St. Gallen the power to in- 
crease her tolls at her option." 

Of all the magistrates of Appenzell who had witnessed 
the treaty at Rorschach, none were living but some rela- 
tives of the Zellweger family at Trogen. Landammann 
Wetter was no friend to these ; their riches gave them too 
much influence in the country. And he said : " They had 
acted interestedly and on some secret understanding with 
St. Gallen to the detriment of their own country." 

Thereupon the Zellwegers retorted: "Were not the 
chief men from both sides of the Sitter present at the 
treaty of Eorschach ? Did not the principal men and the 
judges of all the Ehodes approve it? Has not the treaty 
been already acted upon and carried out in a previous dis- 
pute respecting tolls with St. Gallen, in 1720 ? Why do 
you so strenuously oppose it now, but from bad faith?" 

The people west of the Sitter paid no attention to this, 
but believed landammann Wetter and blamed the Zell- 
wegers and their friends in the other district. And, one 
day, when the heads of all the rhodes were assembled at 
Herisau, the excited country-people, who were called Mar- 
ten, rushed into the council-house and into the council- 
hall. There, with great roughness, they maltreated those 
councillors who respected the treaty of Eorschach, called 
them Linden, and dragged the Zellwegers to the v/indow, 
in order to throw them out to the violent and raging 
mob. Quiet was not restored until each council -lord had 
cried from the window: ''The government did wrong 
in not submitting the treaty of Eorschach to a general 
assembly." 

When the parishes east of the Sitter heard how their 
chief men had been maltreated, they wished to rise and 



-1740.] KUMEROUS MLECAl'lOi^. 223 

avenge them. But the Zellwegers and other well-meaning 
persons dissuaded them, and induced them to await the 
coining general assembly. 

When the people from these rhodes came afterwards to 
the general assembly at Teufen, (20 November, 1732,) 
they found the men from the other rhodes armed with old 
swords, and gathered in unusual numbers around the chair of 
the landammann. By the majority of their votes, these latter 
overpowered all opposition, deprived of offices and honors 
all those magistrates who favored the party of the Linden, 
and declared innocent every one who had been condemned 
for resistance to the treaty of Korschach. 

Now bitterness and hate prevailed throughout the land, 
quarrels and disputes between the Harten and the Linden, 
the partisans of Wetter and of the Zellwegers. Both 
parties appealed to the reformed Confederates. While the 
latter, as usual, sat irresolutely in diet at Frauenfeld 
(January, 1733), the people of the rhodes became so ex- 
cited that the men seized their arms, and the women and 
children fled from Trogen to the neighboring Rheinthal. 
Thereupon a deputation from the Diet hastened to Herisau 
to restore peace. When Escher, the stadtholder of Zurich 
and head of the deputation, had with wise words appeased 
the council, and declared that the Confederates had not 
the least intention to impose conditions displeasing to their 
fellow confederates, delegates from the ten parishes of 
the country were announced as desirous to confer with the 
deputies. These delegates were so numerous that the 
market-place of Herisau could not contain them, being 
four or five thousand men. And they shouted and 
threatened, and cried: "Have you come here to uphold 
the traitorous Linden, and to force a free people to observe 
an agreement to which they never assented. Are we 
slaves or are we still free men ?" 

This discussion lasted far into the night. By the light 
of torches and lanterns, the confederate deputies were com- 
pelled, in a severe winter's night (19 February, 1733), to 
go to a plain near Herisau, and there give to the people a 
written assurance that the treaty of Eorschach should 
aever be forced upon them. On the next day, a crowd 



224 COWARDLY CONDUCT OF THE [l714- 

of people again ruslied into Herisau and required the 
mediators to exhort the opposing Linden to submit to the 
decree of the general assembly. The deputies from Berne 
and Zurich said : " Our cantons are the originators and 
guarantors of the disputed article in the Rorschach treaty ; 
shall we act against those who wish faithfully to observe 
that treaty ? This people shall never compel us to decide 
unjustly." But the other deputies, in cowardly fear and 
anxiety, decided that it was necessary to appease the 
people. And the deputation declared in writing, that the 
Linden must submit to the decree of the general assembly. 
The Harten themselves had not desired more, so they dis- 
persed satisfied. 

This conduct of the Appenzellers, this unworthy treat- 
ment of the Confederate deputies, justly excited the indig- 
nation of the mediating cantons, especially of Zurich and 
Berne. But the wounds of the Toggenburg war were 
still too fresh to permit an armed interference. The mat- 
ter was frequently discussed in diet at Frauenfeld and 
Aarau, but without vigor, consequently without result. 
Moreover, the Linden were thereby encouraged in their 
resistance to the Harten. 

The irritation of both parties at last broke forth in the 
town of Gaiss, and the people, coming to blows, called on 
the neighboring villages for assistance. They fought with 
clubs and sticks. The Harten were victorious this time 
also, and plundered the barns and cellars of the Linden. 
These latter, breathing vengeance, assembled the next day 
in arms at Trogen and Speicher; the forces of the Harten 
rallied under their banners at Teufen with artillerv. 
Citizen-blood was about to flow. But the government of 
Appenzell, supported by the Confederate mediators who 
were at St. Grail en, succeeded this time also, by firmness 
and prudence, in separating the furious opponents and 
restoring peace. 

In the mean while the Linden had learned by these en- 
counters that they were the weaker party in the land. 
Therefore they gave up their cause in despair. The gen- 
eral assembly at Hundwyl confirmed the decision of that 
which had met at TjBufeu the year before. The leaders 



-1'740.J CONFEDERATE DEPUTIES. 225 

of the Linden party were deprived of honors and offices, 
and punished by heavy fines for the hopes they had enter- 
tained of the support of cantons and diets. 



CHAPTER LI. 



HENZl's CONSPIRACY AT BERNE, 



[A. D. 1740 to 1T49.] 

The Confederates were silent respecting the justice or 
injustice of the measures adopted on the Sitter, because 
all had enough to do to keep peace at home. Every can- 
ton had more or less trouble, and Berne the most of all. 

At first the sovereign power of the city of Berne was 
vested in all the citizens, by virtue of the charter granted 
to them by duke Berchthold of Zahringen, under the em- 
peror Frederick 11. (1218). And the burghers chose their 
magistrates each year mostly from the noble families 
established in the city, whose riches, leisure and educa- 
tion rendered them more capable than the common citizens 
to rule a state with dignity. But as, in course of time, 
the nobles became haughty and ambitious of absolute 
power, the citizens, assembled in the preacher's church 
(1384), made a statement of their liberties in a fundamental 
law, intended to prevent all abuses. Thenceforward, yearly, 
sixteen citizens and four bannerets were to choose the two 
hundred of the great council (as since 1294) from among 
the artisans: they thought it easier to find twenty men 
who would not be corrupted by the rich families, than to 
prevent gold and intrigues from influencing a great crowd. 
The commons reserved to themselves the passing of im- 
portant laws and the declaration of war and peace ; even 
the country-district was to be called into council on impor- 
tant matters, as had formerly been and was still for some 
time the case. 

But, by degrees, the powerful bannerets chose for the 
great council only their friends and relatives ; by degrees, 
10* 



226 THE RULING FAMILIES. [l740- 

these families perpetuated their possession of the govern- 
ment ; the great council, in concert with the bannerets and 
the sixteen, renewed itself annually ; by degrees, the com- 
mons were assembled more rarely ; finally not at all. In 
1531, the first law was passed without vote of the burghers, 
and, in 1536, when war was to be declared against Savoy, 
the commons were assembled for the last time. After this, 
not again. The sovereign power became exclusively here- 
ditary in the families of the great council. All the citizens 
were indeed eligible, nominally ; but the ruling families 
were only a small number, who divided all places and 
ojffices among themselves. 

An unjustly acquired sovereignty, however good and 
wise it may be, never effaces by its virtues the stain of 
the original injustice, and always trembles for its power. 
Berchthold's old grant and the citizens' fundamental law 
still lay in their golden chests ; • but the ruling families of 
the great council desired neither to enforce nor to revoke 
them. JSTothing was said of the rights of the commons 
of Berne, but the inscription still remained on the city- 
seal. 

Several times the burghers murmured against the here- 
ditary power of a few families. The yet unrevoked grants 
and charters gave to the dissatisfied a pretext and color of 
right. But the ruling power imposed silence on free voices. 
When, in 1710, several burghers demanded the restoration 
of the old constitution, in a memorial to the great council, 
and even formed a conspiracy, prisons and banishment dis- 
posed of the malcontents. When, afterwards, in 1744, 
twenty-four burghers of the city presented a respectful pe- 
tition that in future the council should no longer be chosen 
arbitrarily and by favor, but selected by lot from among 
all who were eligible, they were punished as rebels, some 
by confinement to their own houses, others by banish- 
ment. 

Among these was captain Samuel Henzi, a man of noble 
mind and uncommon acquirements. The time of his ban- 
ishment, which he passed at Neuchatel, was shortened by 
pardon. When he returned to Berne, but found that 
tie was ruined, and, on apphcation, that he was excluded 



-1749.] MICHAEL DUCREST. 227 

from all lucrative employment, his heart became filled 
with bitterness and he could not restrain his indignation. 

At that same time there lived in the city many upright 
and wealthy men of respectable citizen-families, such as 
the Fueters, Werniers, Kupfers, Bondelys, Lerbers, Knechts, 
Herborts, Wyses and others. These men mourned in si- 
lence over the down-trodden rights of the commons, and 
lamented that the chartered prerogatives of the citizens 
could not be maintained against the power of those who 
now sat, like hereditary lords, in the council-hall. Henzi 
joined them, as did Michael Ducrest, the surveyor, who 
lived at Berne under arrest, on account of his participation 
in the disturbances of his native city, Greneva. By mutual 
complaints of the usurpation of the government and of 
the haughty harshness of some of its members, the feelings 
of these men became excited ; and in conversations in 
which the abuses of the commonwealth were vividly pre- 
sented to all their minds, bold resolutions were formed. 
No one can say who had the first thought of a new con- 
spiracy. But captain Henzi, whom his recent disgrace im- 
pelled to the zealous adoption of energetic measures, soon 
became the soul of the whole, in consequence pf his elo- 
quence and superior acquirements. 

They met in the evenings ; formed plans for the restora- 
tion of the ancient order of things agreeably to the charter 
and fundamental law, and bound themselves to fidelity and 
silence by a fearful oath. Henzi desired to act with energy, 
but also with moderation. Such was also the "wish of 
Daniel Fueter, the goldsmith. All the best informed and 
most upright men agreed with them : they aimed simply 
at the destruction of existing abuses. Force was only to 
be employed in the last resort to resist force. But when 
the circle of the conspirators was enlarged, and men were 
admitted of ill-regulated minds, fiery ambition and ruined 
fortunes, the original moderation no longer prevailed. This 
is proved by the secret document they drew up to justify 
their enterprise, in which a deadly hatred depicts in the 
blackest colors all the faults of the governing families. 
*' Tbe sword, not the pen," said they, " is the weapon by 
which the lost chaplet of liberty must be regained," 



228 FUETER AND WERNIER. [1740- 

It was agreed that, on the 18th of June, 1749, the aiQ 
senal was to be taken by storm, liberty proclaimed, ♦■-^-.e 
commons assembled, a new government installed, ando^fs 
great council of the reigning families dissolved. t, 

The government, unsuspicious of the threatening dangeiy 
ruled with dignity and wisdom. All the Confederates ho to 
ored their extended views and noble institutions. Ev, a 
foreigners admired the good results of their rule. Th^ 
virtues had caused most of the citizens to forget the anci(.m- 
prerogatives of the commons, and the subjects congratulat ey 
themselves on the mildness and justice of their lords ar " 
masters. But the day intended to ruin all approached, s-qj. 

The number of conspirators already amounted to sixtjt 
But Henzi, who had been most earnest in the cause before 
the later evil designs were revealed to him, abhorred it, as 
did many of the others, when he learned that a large por- 
tion of the conspirators concealed the worst intention ' 
under the mask of patriotism. Then Henzi withdrew hia 
countenance from those whom imprudence and disuniois 
were leading to the brink of ruin. He meditated flight.^ 
Before he could succeed in this, every thing was betrayed 
by an ecclesiastic, himself an accomplice, bound by the 
oath. Henzi was seized on a party of pleasure and thrown 
into prison; as were lieutenant Emanuel Fueter and the 
merchant Samuel Wernier. The others fled in great terror, 
and, when at a distance, learnt with horror that those who 
remained had confessed, under fear of chains and torture, 
their intention of assassinating the principal citizens, of 
burning the city, of pillaging the public treasury ; or that 
these things were at least believed by the public. Few 
felt themselves capable of such crimes. 

When these things came to light, Henzi appeared the 
most guilty of all. He had repaid with ingratitude the 
kindness of the government which had shortened his term 
of exile. Sentence of death was passed upon all three. 
The others implored mercy ; Henzi did not ; he disdained 
a life of disgrace. 

On the 16th of June, 1749, Henzi, heart-broken but 
fearless, took leave of his wife and children ; saw the heads 
of Wernier and Fueter, his apcomplices, fall beneath th^ 



-1749.] mekzi's som. 229 

^il^'ord of the executioner ; then presented himself without 
of ;-jmbling to the death-stroke. He knew how to die with 
til ,. ore dignity than he had lived. 

rpjj^The rest were banished from the country. When 

of enzi's widow stood on the bank of the Rhine with her 

othe^ young sons, she cast on her native land a last despair- 

^ ^}j, look, and said to the bystanders : " Did I not know 

of th" t^<3se children would one day avenge the blood of 

^^,T slaughtered father, dear as they are to me, I would 

they ^-^y ^^^ them swallowed by these waves." 

their.*^^ the sons, when arrived at manly years, were more 

r^pp^,.^;nanimous than their mother. One of them, governor 

gpoJ- the noble youths in the service of the hereditary 

f^jadtholder of the Netherlands, repaid his own undeserved 

gl^ nisfortunes by benefits to the burghers of his native city. 

However, these events were not unattended with good 

»p[j. suits to Berne. The wants of the state were discussed 

gjy lore freely. Many members of the council, worthy des- 

ll cendants of their renowned ancestors, urged the reform of 

o^ abuses. Afterwards (1780), the sentence pronounced on all 

the criminals was revoked, and the banished were allowed 

to return. So much had public opinion changed, that 

those who had been carried too far by their noble desires 

to benefit the commonwealth were received with pity or 

respect ; while contempt was the lot of those who, instead 

of dissuading the malcontents from their perilous designs, 

had entered the conspiracy only to become cowardly 

traitors. 



CHAPTER LII. 

OF THE REBELLION IN THE VALLEY OF LEVENTINA. 
[A, D. 1750 to 1755.] 

Shortly after these distressing events at Berne, others, 
even more melancholy, occurred in the valley of Leven- 
tina. Here, in a district extending eleven leagues from 
the snow-clad heights of the St. Gotthard to the mountain- 

u 



280 URI^S LOVE OF JaSTlCE. [l?60- 

torrent of the Abiasca, on both sides of the Ticino and in 
the wild side- valleys, dwelt a people content with the 
small returns of their herds upon the Alps, their woods 
upon the mountains, and their pack-horses upon the St 
Gotthard pass. The ancient franchises with which they 
had passed from the dominion of the Yisconti family to 
that of Uri remained unimpaired. Uri derived but a 
small revenue from the tolls, and a trifling impost. 

Therefore Uri thought that neither pay nor other cc'm- 
pensation was due from her when the men of the val ey 
followed her banners in the Toggenburg war. " Fcr," 
said Uri, " we have protected you, and maintained jvur 
franchises during nearly two centuries and a half, almost 
without compensation; why do you now ask pay from 
your sovereign?" Hereto the people of Leventina an- 
swered, and said: "You are obliged to protect us and to 
maintain our franchises by the old agreement you made, 
but no agreement obliges us to go to war for you at our 
own cost." And, as Uri still refused to pay the wages for 
their faithful service, and as the people of Leventina there- 
upon seized the bailiff of Uri and appropriated the tolls, 
deputies from the five catholic cantons came to Altdorf 
and said : " Uri owes the money." 

So peace was restored, and no bad feeling remained in 
any heart. Uri acknowledged her error and she loved 
justice. 

But in the valleys of Leventina dwelt some men who 
were unjust towards their fellow-citizens, and especially 
towards the widows and orphans whose property they 
managed. The widows and orphans complained to Uri, 
and the government decided that all guardianship accounts 
should be settled according to the ancient custom. This 
frightened many of the rich men of the valley. They 
said: "This is an innovation. Uri will again attempt to 
deprive us of our liberties." And they went into the 
villages round about, where they had many debtors, and 
excited the people and said: "Let us be united and we 
can easily stand against Uri. If you are courageous, we 
will throw off the impost and collect the tolls for ourselves." 
Thus said they, and wished to cover up their own crime 



-1755.] TTRS, FURNO AND SARTORI. 231 

with the crime of the whole people. It was in the beginning 
of 1755, when all the country lay under the snow and 
the unemployed peasants had much leisure on their hands. 
They held meetings in their villages, and formed all sorts 
of resolutions. Each wished to appear bolder than the 
others. They seized Gamma, the bailiff of Uri, as well 
as the collector of the tolls, and empowered the tribunal 
of the valley to sit in judgment on important cases. 

When the government of Uri heard of these disorders 
they earnestly entreated the valley-people to return to 
their allegiance. Two men of Leventina, Wela and Bull, 
appeared before the general assembly to answer; they 
spoke boldly, not as subjects, but as masters; there w^ere 
fully two thousand men in arms on the other side of the 
St. Gotthard to support them. 

Immediately, the horn of Uri was heard along the Reuss. 
Through storm and rain, nearly a thousand Urners, with 
six pieces of heavy artillery, ascended the rocky paths of 
the St. Gotthard and showed themselves above the sources 
of the Ticino. The watchmen of the rebels fled in terror 
and spread fear through the whole valley. 

The chiefs of the insurrection, Urs, captain of the coun- 
try, Furno, banneret of the valley, Sartori, council-lord, 
and others, their adherents, met together and held a coun- 
cil of war. They decided : to draw Uri into the valley as 
far as the foot of the high Platifer, where the Ticino, with 
frightful rush, breaks through a cleft in the rock, and 
where a handful of men can hold at bay a whole armj^ on 
the rock-hewn path. When the enemy were entangled in 
the pass, the men of Leventina would come forth in num- 
bers from all the lateral valleys, in the recesses of which 
they were till then to be concealed, surround and annihi- 
late the forces of Uri. 

Unfavorable weather covered the St. Gotthard with deep 
snow, even after the lower valleys began to grow green. 
Therefore the Urners stopped in the valley of Urseren. 
But, in the mean while, the notified Confederates of Zurich, 
Lucerne, Schwyz, Zug and Unterwalden hastened with 
auxiliaries over the lake of the Waldstatten. Valais, Berne 
and Glarus occupied the frontiers of Leventina. 



IMPOSING SPECTACLE. [HSO- 

At last the battalions of Uri, reinforced by eight hun 
dred warlike Unterwaldeners, passed the heights of the St. 
Gotthard (21st May, 1755). Bat when the rebels, instead 
of the small force of Uri, saw the banners of the Confeder- 
ates, their country completely surrounded, and the Lucern- 
ers in the valley of Ronca, all their courage failed. They 
fled, throwing away their arms, back into their villages ; 
many into the forests. In vain did signal-fires on the 
heights give notice of the danger and call for a general 
rising. 

The Urners and Unterwaldeners advanced cautiously 
from village to village, leaving guards at every defile, as 
far as the last hamlet on the Abiasca. All yielded and 
were disarmed; the other Confederates received notice not 
to advance further with their auxiliaries ; good discipline 
was maintained ; the chiefs of the rebels seized, one after 
the other ; and Urs, the captain of the country, himself 
dragged from the capuchin-convent, where he had hoped 
to find a safe asylum. 

Then began the judgment of a whole people ; an impos- 
ing and fearful spectacle, such as Switzerland has seldom 
seen. 

Near Faido, where the St. Gotthard road passes through 
a small valley, surrounded by wooded mountains, is an 
open, even space, to which the people were accustomed to 
resort for deliberation. Here they were now assembled 
from all the villages. Nearly three thousand men ap- 
peared on the day of judgment (2d June), awaiting their 
sentence. The Confederates, in arms, surrounded the crim- 
inals. Among the multitude reigned the silence of death, 
broken only by the monotonous thunder of the waterfall 
on the neighboring rock. 

WheA all was ready, sentence was passed on the people. 
The forfeited rights of their ancestors, their honors and 
guarantees were taken from them. Then they were con- 
demned, bareheaded and on their knees, to witness the ex- 
ecution of their chiefs and to swear obedience to Uri. 

Within the circle of bayonets, the thousands swore the 
bitter oath which annihilated the liberty inherited from 
their fathers, and with the guilty living punished their 



-1755.] EXECUTION OF THE LEADERS. 233 

guiltless posterity. Then, at a signal, the crowd of peni- 
tents sank shuddering to their knees, and, with brows un- 
covered, saw fall beneath the sword of the executioner the 
banneret Furno, the captain of the country Urs, whose 
bloody heads were nailed to the scaffold, and the council- 
lord Sartori. 

After this terrible solemnity, all the people returned to 
their cabins, with deep fear in their hearts, and on the next 
day the avenging army of the Confederates marched back 
over the St. Gotthard. Eight men of the subjugated val- 
ley, more guilty than the rest of the rebels, walked in 
chains before the banners, and received the death-stroke 
in Uri. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

HOW THE ANCIENT CONFEDERACY FELL INTO STILL GREATER 
DECAY. THE HELVETIAN SOCIETY. 

[A. D. 1755 to 1761.] 

At this same time there were many upright and well- 
informed men in the Confederate land, and their hearts 
were heavy when they heard of all these troubles and dis- 
orders. They saw therein presages of the general ruin and 
destruction which drew near; but no one listened to their 
warnings. There was certainly a great deal of good, but 
evil began to obtain the ascendancy. 

True patriotism dwells side by side with true liberty. 
Hence there was more patriotism in the capital cities than 
in the country districts; more in the shepherd-cantons than 
in the bailiwicks. The burghers of the sovereign cities, 
jealous of their prerogatives, disliked to see a subject rise 
to eminence by learning or riches. All paths by which he 
might attain distinction as statesman, scholar, soldier or 
clergyman were designedly closed to the peasant. In 
many places even commerce and the mechanic arts were 
forbidden to him. Bound to the plough and to service, he 
gaw in the city-burgher his born lord, general, judge and 

u* 



234 EXTINCTION OF PATRIOTISM. [1756- 

priest. The subjects of kings enjoyed more rights than 
the subjects of the Swiss. Even the growth of the small 
cities, flourishing by means of commerce and good schools, 
was viewed with secret dissatisfaction by the capitals. 

Hence that holy love whicb willingly sacrifices to the 
fatherland whatever is dearest disappeared from among the 
people ; mean selfishness filled the empty place. Hence 
there was obedience ; not the obedience of freemen but of 
slaves, not from conviction but from fear, full of distrust 
of the nobles and the cities, full of obstinacy against the 
introduction of improvements. For the common people 
were brought up in blindness of mind ; the young men, 
often without instruction or in schools worse for the intel- 
lect than the wildest impulses of nature. It was thought 
that a blind people could be more easily led. But the 
blind, also, more easily smite their own masters when evil 
advisers place a sword in their hands against them. No 
one thought of this. 

At home the governments were satisfied with being good 
managers. The highest as well as the lowest offices in 
each canton were paid moderately, often meanly ; fortunes 
were made in foreign service or in the bailiwicks. Order 
prevailed in public affairs; love of justice in spite of un- 
favorable laws ; and the rights, even of the meanest, were 
generally respected and enforced. In consequence of the 
trifling state expenses, imposts were rare and never burden- 
some. In the capital cities, science and taste flourished by 
the side of wealth, especially among the reformed. Zurich 
and Geneva were distinguished among all for their eminent 
scholars and artists. At Bale, on the other hand, a narrow 
and calculating spirit caused the decline of her time hon- 
ored university, so that it had nearly as many teachers as 
scholars, and became an establishment rather for the sup- 
port of the former than for the education of the latter. 

In the capital cities of catholic Switzerland, where the 
clergy opposed free inquiry, science attained no distin- 
guished honor. The monkish spirit drove the young men 
away from living knowledge to the coffins of dead erudi- 
tion. 

The shepherd-cantons cared not for culture or iuforma- 



-nei.] CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS. 235 

tion. Personal liberty and freedom, from taxes supplied 
the place of all. The peasant in his hut, fed by his flocks, 
choosing his own magistrates, knowing no laws but such 
as he had helped to make, thought himself the freest son 
of earth. Poor, rude and superstitious, he allowed himself 
to be led by tlie priests and rich families of his district ; 
but he was led, not imperiously governed. 

In many cantons, the governments accomplished good 
things. Berne built palaces for the commonwealth, con- 
structed highways, and amassed treasures by economy. 
Zurich encouraged commerce, science and agriculture. 
Lucerne struggled gloriously against the nuncio and the 
papal court of Rome (from 1725 to 1748), when they tried 
to make the spiritual power superior to the temporal rights 
of the government. 

All Switzerland indeed, to the eyes of foreigners, seemed 
a paradise, the abode of happy and peaceful men. But 
they saw only the beautiful verdure of the plains, not the 
barren rocks ; the majesty of the snow-mountains, not their 
destructive avalanches. They saw the pomp of the Diets, 
not their bickerings ; the images of William Tell, not tlie 
slavery of the subjects ; the illumination of the cities, not 
the spiritual darkness of the villages. Everywhere great 
names and words, small sentiments and actions. 

The consciousness of their weakness, which forbade 
manly enterprises, was called moderation, and cowardice 
was called love of peace. Men sought for pensions, titles, 
chains of gold from foreign kings, and boasted of their 
country's independence. They praised the peaceful happi- 
ness of the Swiss, when to centuries of civil and religious 
wars had succeeded a century of mutinies, conspiracies and 
insurrections. 

A mean-spirited, small citj^'-policy, without the dignity 
of virtue, thought to secure respect by the darkness of 
mystery. Freedom of the press was forbidden. Hardly 
six years after the establishment of the first Swiss press, an 
official inspection of books (called censorship) was introduced 
into Zurich and other cities. The gazettes were compelled 
to be silegt respecting the aflfl^irs of the country. It was 
inore Qc^v to |earn the doing^'Of t(]e Grand Turk or of thQ 



236 DISREGARD OF THE BOND. [l756- 

Great Mogul than those of Zurich, Berne or Schaff hausen. 
This diminished the attachment of the Confederates for 
their Confederacy, as seemed to be the wish of the govern- 
ments. 

Entirely to destroy this holy and powerful feeling, the 
old hate between the small communities, originating in 
former religious wars and feuds, was carefully cherished. 
Freiburg celebrated the fratricidal day of Yillmergen as a 
religious festival. Coldness and distrust separated the val- 
leys of the same mountains. They no longer fought against 
each other with the sword, for fear of foreign nations ; but 
more bitterly with tongue and pen. They reciprocally for- 
bade the supply of the most necessary provisions; and 
even, on the frontiers and highways, stationed soldiers and 
constables, who, with revolting harshness, prevented the 
transport of garden-produce, eggs, fowls and fish from one 
little corner of Switzerland to another. 

" Without the advice and consent of the others, no can- 
ton shall enter into alliance with foreign nations." So says 
the ancient, perpetual bond. Nevertheless, without the 
advice and consent of the others, the cantons, one and all, 
made special treaties with France or Austria, with Spain 
or Venice. "No judge shall be acknowledged who has 
bought the office." So declares the perpetual bond. But 
the sale of offices was public, in the forest-cantons and else- 
where. 

Such had the Confederacy become; everywhere more 
or less openly corrupt. Here, some villages and small 
cities boasted of their insignificant privileges and opposed 
their badly-understood rights to all improvement in the 
laws ; there, the cities strove for more authority over the 
country; now, the ancient families of the cities claimed 
precedence of the more recent ; then, those families who 
sat in the places of government demanded that their au- 
thority should be perpetuated by law. Everywhere pre- 
vailed mean disputes, selfishness, vanity and self-impor- 
tance. The Swiss were more friendly with foreign na- 
jfcions than with each other ; and it was easier for them to 
eettle in any other part of the world, than to change their 
abode from one village to another, or from one canton to 



-iTfil.j IgELm AND Ills ASSOCIATES. 237 

another, within their own fatherland. A Swiss, when he 
had passed the limits of his own little district, was no less 
a foreigner in the Confederacy, than was an Indian, a Per 
sian or a Russian. 

While the monarchies were perfecting their organization 
and increasing their power, nothing was done in Switzer- 
land, eitherjo ameliorate her constitutions, or to strengthen 
her bond. While France and Austria grew to colossal 
powers and improved their military systems, the careless 
Swiss allowed their arms to rust. They boasted of the 
victories of their ancestors, and thought not how to secure 
victory in the day of danger. Their means of defence 
dated from the Thirty Years' War ; their latest military 
tactics were nearly a century old. They forgot to provide 
the means by which a force was to be armed ; there was 
no uniformity in their weapons or in their management 
of them. Some few, indeed, as Berne, Zurich and Lucerne, 
had introduced more improvements into their military sys- 
tems than had the others ; but what these cities did seemed 
intended rather to put down an insurrection of their own 
subjects than to repel an invasion of foreign forces. 

Such a condition of things greatly saddened the hearts 
of many right-thinking and far-seeing men in the land of 
the Confederates, Some of the noblest met together at the 
baths of Schinznach on the Aar : Iselin, the philanthropist 
of Bale, Hirzel, the sage of Zurich, the independent Urs 
Balthazar of Lucerne, the valiant Zellweger of Appenzell 
and others. They founded (1761) a fraternal association 
of patriotic Swiss, a Helvetian society, for the increase of 
information, of public spirit, of Confederate brotherly love. 
They met every year; every year their number was in- 
creased from all the cantons and allied places. Here, the 
most worthy men of the fatherland learned to love one 
another. Here, friendships were formed for the public 
good. In these holy meetings, the flame of the ancient 
Confederacy once more blazed pure and noble. But the 
governments of the cantons viewed these assemblages with 
suspicion and permitted them unwillingly. 



238 HOW THE KING OF PRUSSIA [l762- 



CHAPTER LIY. 

KING FREDERICK THE GREAT, AS PRINCE OF NEUCHATEL, BEHAVES 
NOBLY TOWARDS HIS SUBJECTS. 

[A. D. 1762 to 1770.] 

For the chiefs and councils of the cantons were afraid 
lest, by such societies, the doings of the governments should 
be unfavorably criticised, their authority diminished, in- 
formation disseminated among the people, and their sub- 
jects imbued with a greater love of liberty. 

The king of Prussia, who was lord and prince of Neu- 
chatel, showed himself much less fearful of the enlighten- 
ment of his people. He even increased and extended their 
privileges, instead of diminishing or restricting them. 
' Neuchatel and Yalengin, with the fertile valleys along 
the lake and among the Jura mountains, had belonged to 
the kingdom of Burgundy in the earlier times, and after- 
wards passed to the Grerman empire. In the castle on the 
lake-shore dwelt the barons of Neuchatel. They granted 
great privileges to all who would settle on their savage 
mountains and clear their impenetrable forests. Thus the 
country became peopled, and about the castle grew the 
cit}^, which received from count Ulrich and his nephew 
Berthold (1214) the same rights as Besangon, the principal 
city of Upper Burgundy. 

Afterwards, when lord Eolin of Neuchatel transferred 
his sovereignty and property to emperor Rudolf of Habs- 
burg (1288), the country passed by turns into several 
hands. First, Rudolf of Habsburg ceded it to the power- 
ful Burgundian house of Chalons; then, nearly three cen- 
turies afterwards (1505), it came into possession of the 
family of Longueville ; and when the last daughter of that 
house, Mary, duchess of Nemours, died (1707), full twenty 
heirs claimed this fine principality. But the estates of the 
country, composed of the twelve judges of the principality 
of Neuchatel, met together, examined the titles of tho 



-mo.] BECAME PRINCE OF NEUCHATEL. " 239 

claimants, and recognized king Frederick I. of Prussia as 
next heir to the house of Chalons. 

Thus the king of Prussia became prince of Neuchatel, 
subscribed to the constitution and franchises of the country, 
and exercised his rights over it by a royal governor, and a 
state-council which he chose from among the natives. 
Thenceforward, he also was considered an ally of the Con- 
federacy, because the principality was numbered among 
the districts allied to Switzerland. For the ancient lords 
of JSTeuchatel, as well as the cities and many of the free 
communes, had successively, during many centuries, en- 
joyed the right of perpetual coburghership with the can- 
tons of Berne, Solothurn, Lucerne and Freiburg, and 
thereby the protection of the whole Confederacy. 

The people of JSTeuchatel were very jealous of their 
rights, and would permit no encroachment on the part of 
the king of Prussia. In 1748, when he leased the reve- 
nues which he derived from the country, the people were 
opposed to the innovation, and in 1766, when he wished 
to renew the lease, there was much more disturbance. 
The king, through his charge, Gaudot, laid his complaints 
before the canton of Berne, as the umpire appointed by 
compact ; and Berne decided almost every thing in favor 
of the prince. Thereat the people of Neuchatel were so 
enraged, that they followed Gaudot when he returned from 
Berne and attacked his house (25th April, 1768). In vain 
did the magistrates try to restrain them ; in vain were the 
troops called out. Gaudot and his nephew, when they 
saw their danger, tried to frighten the people by firing 
from a window upon the crowd. They did wrong. A 
carpenter who had almost forced his way into the house 
was killed. The people rushed furiously over his dead 
body, and Gaudot fell, pierced by three bullets. 

Urged by the envoys of the king and by the council of 
the city of Neuchatel, Berne, Lucerne, Solothurn and 
Freiburg, after long deliberation, sent a garrison into the 
disturbed city, to preserve the public peace. Then tedious 
inquests and interminable parleyings took place. The 
king's plenipotentiaries thought this a good opportunity 
for the exercise of arbitrary power, that the country might 



240 GRANT OF NEW FRANCHISES. [l762- 

iu future be held in more submission and fear. But the 
Confederates were unwilling to be the tools of foreign am- 
bition, and the banneret Osterwald spoke energetically and 
courageously in defence of the laws and franchises of his 
fatherland against the foreign servants of the prince. 
Finally, the matter was judged and decided. The city of 
Neuchatel was compelled to give up her arms, to bear all 
costs, to indemnify the family of the unfortunate Graudot, 
and, in the persons of the city-council, to ask pardon of 
the king's plenipotentiaries at the castle. The more guilty 
insurgents, most of whom had fled, were banished, fined or 
hung in effigy. Then the garrison of the Confederates re- 
turned home. 

But the king of Prussia, after all this, instead of restrict- 
ing or diminishing the privileges of the people of Neucha- 
tel, as Uri had done in Leventina, consolidated and even 
increased them by new grants. This won back to the 
house of Prussia the hearts of all the people. Not only 
did he soon restore their arms, but he allowed a yearly 
just valuation of the ground-rents, which might be paid in 
fruits and wine, or in money. He disclaimed the right of 
arbitrary removal from of&ce; and furthermore, gave to 
the united communes the privilege of an independent ge- 
neral council, without whose assent the prince could make 
no change in the management of the state. Many things 
which were doubtful or obscure in the ancient laws were 
corrected and elucidated, and always to the advantage and 
gain of the people. Thus did the king, what no govern- 
ment of the Swiss republic had ever done. But he was 
one of the most excellent and wisest princes of that cen- 
tury. He was Frederick the Great. 



1770.] PLACIDUS SCHUMACHER. 241 



CHAPTER LY. 

PARTY-QUARRELS IN THE CITY OF LUCERNE. HISTORY OF LAND 
AMMANN SUTER OF THE INNER-RHODES OF APPENZELL. 

[A. D. 1770 to 1784.] 

About the same time, the city of Lucerne also was the 
scene of still more .aMcting troubles and disturbances. 
Here, as in some other cities of Switzerland, the principal 
and noble families had long since taken possession of the 
government as an inheritance, and almost entirely annihi- 
lated the ancient influence of the rest of the citizens in the 
commonwealth. More than one person, raised to the ma- 
gistracy, not by talents or virtues but by the favor of in- 
fluential relatives, thought he had a right to live at the 
expense of the state without doing much for the state. 
Sometimes an excessive indulgence, sometimes an ambi- 
tious jealousy, on the part of the rulers towards each other^ 
brought great evils on the commonwealth and on them- 
selves. Such was the increasing corruption of morals, that 
unfaithfulness in the management of the public property 
was not unusual. Magistrates absconded with government- 
moiey; the granary and arsenal were plundered; even 
the siate-treasury was broken into and robbed. 

Already the amtmann, Leodegar Meyer, had been 
obliged to expiate in exile his excessive luxury, to supply 
which he had abstracted a large sum from the state-money. 
Shortly after him, the state-treasurer, Jost Nicholas Joa- 
chim Schumacher, wasted in prodigal expenses 32,000 
florins belonging to the country and was forever banished 
from the territory of the whole Confederacy (1762). His 
son, Placidus Schumacher, was not deterred bj his father's 
warning example from a most disorderly life. He first 
spent all his own property ; sank in debt ; then, as amt- 
mann, mismanaged the signiory of Heidegg ; entered the 
Austrian military service; left it; wandered about the 
territory of his native city and in the neighborhood ; asso- 
ciated with discontented men, and made himself beloved 
11 V 



242 VAI.ENTINE MErER. [lllO- 

hy or of importance among them by his extravagant 
speeches. Although there was no appearance of sedition, 
the suspicions of the government were aroused, because 
they were too well avv^are of their own arbitrary conduct 
and weakness to have any confidence in the people. 
Schumacher and some of his loose companions were im- 
prisoned under charge of seditious designs, though he 
had merely drawn up a petition expressing the complaints 
of the malcontents in the ordinary and legal manner. 
He was accused of high treason, and, although nothing 
was proved, was beheaded (1764), to the terror of the 
citizens and country-people. Others, who had been with 
him, were sentenced to banishment. 

Some years afterwards, when those who had decreed 
Schumacher's death became sensible of their own un- 
founded fear and injustice, each wished to throw off the 
burden of guilt. The council-lord, Valentine Meyer, who 
conducted the trial, had contributed most, it was now said, 
io the severity of the sentence. The family of the victim 
at first privately then publicly, accused him. Then it 
was remembered that he was the son of Leodegar Meyer, 
and might, probably, have been actuated by bloodthirsty 
revenge. Even those who had joined with him in the 
trial, judgment and sentence, and had signed the latter, 
meanly declared against him. Then general Pfyffer, head 
of the French party, who was Meyer's enemy because the 
latter had often spoken zealously against the injurious in- 
fluence of Erance, rose triumphant against him ; then 
every one who feared or envied his talents or acquirements 
accused him. To him, as a clear-thinking man, was at- 
tributed the authorship of a pamphlet which had been 
published at Zurich with this title: "Would not the 
catholic Confederates be benefitted by the complete sup- 
pression or the restriction of the regular monastic orders ?" 
This added the convents, clergy and nuncio to the crowd 
of his enemies. An ironical refutation of the pamphlet, 
not without satire against the monks, which he read to a 
circle of confidential friends, was, when it appeared in print, 
burned with ridiculous solemnity by the hangman of Lu- 
cerne, a false friend having betrayed the name of the author 



-1784.] JOHiJ JACOB GEIGEU. 243 

This was enougli to condemn him. He was to be made a 
victim. In order to find grounds of accusation, his enemies 
used every means, violated the faith of the state, the secresy 
of the post-office, broke into his house and ransacked his pa* 
pers. When all these high-handed measures had failed to 
discover any crime, he was arrested at his country-place 
where, knowing his innocence, he dwelt freely and fear 
lessly. Forty- three days he lay in prison and had nc 
hearing. In vain did the upright and brave avoyer Keller, 
the wise patriot Felix Balthasar and many other impartial 
men address the council in his behalf In vain did Meyer 
himself send a justificatory petition : they decided not 
even to open it. In vain did honest Casimer Kruss advise 
reconciliation and peace. Meyer was sentenced to fifteen 
years of banishment; while on the other hand, each of 
those who had been condemned to exile or the galleys as 
accomplices of Placidus Schumacher, received a pardon 
(1770). Then, for the first time, did the divided principal 
families make peace among themselves, agreeing that the 
troubles in Lucerne arose, not from injustice, but from the 
too severe application of the laws to the members of the 
government and of the ruling families ; and that mutual 
forbearance and a firm alliance could alone prevent the 
prerogatives of the nobility from passing into the hands of 
the citizens. 

Shortly after these events, the bloody end of Joseph 
Anthony Suter, landammann of the Inner-rhodes of Ap- 
penzell, made it evident that the freedom and rights of the 
citizen are no safer with a whole people than under the 
sovereignty of a few noble and patrician families, when 
the spirit of moderation and justice has given place to the 
intrigues of selfish ambition and revenge. 

Suter was innkeeper at Gonten ; a man of little edu- 
cation, but of cheerful mother-wit, charitable to the poor, 
kindly to all. For these qualities, the Appenzellers made 
him bailiff of Rheinthal, preferring him to John Jacob 
Geiger. The latter had sought the office, as it was lucrative, 
to compensate him for the sacrifices he had previously 
made. Two years afterwards, the nine rhodes of the coua- 



2M THE SANTIS-ALP. [1110- 

try chose the amiable Suter governing landammann, and 
again preferred him to his rival Geiger. 

This enraged the latter and many others in the country 
who thought themselves of importance. They secretly 
formed a party against Suter. Many rich people, also, 
were his enemies, because he had zealously opposed an un- 
just law which gave to home creditors the preference over 
foreign ones against insolvent debtors. " For," said Suter, 
"it is unjust, destroys the confidence of foreigners and 
prevents them from loaning money in our country." But 
the rich men said: "Suter favors foreigners; he is not a 
friend to his own people." 

Suter did not care for these calumnies, but used all the 
means in his power to benefit the country. He obtained for 
his canton from the commune of Oberried in Rheinthal the 
refusal of one of the finest alps on the upper Santisberg, 
in case it should be sold. The Appenzellers, when once 
in great want of money, had sold this alp to the Ober- 
rieders. Afterwards, when it was reported that large 
portions of the great Santis-alp had been mortgaged to 
foreigners, landammann Suter persuaded the members of 
the council to have the alp appraised and the money ap- 
propriated, and to take immediate possession^ 

Herein his zeal carried him too far. Oberried justly 
complained to the Diet against the Inner-rhodes, and the 
council, repenting their precipitancy, withdrew their pre- 
tensions. Suter, however, obstinate and made proud by 
his dignities, would not yield, but carried on the suit at 
his own expense. After he had lost it before the Diet 
(1775) and came home, he was ashamed to acknowledge 
the truth. "When it became known that the canton of 
Appenzell had been sentenced in the costs and that all 
her real estate in Rheinthal was held as security for their 
)»ayment, although Suter declared that he would pay the 
whole, the enemies of the landammann raised a great out- 
cry, and his colleague, landammann Greiger, and the council 
said : " Suter has deceived the government by misrepre- 
sentations, and has brought shame and disgrace on the 
Inner-rhodes before all the Confederates." And the coun- 
cil, without a hearing, though he was chief of the canton, 



-1Y84.] MYSTEEIOUS SENTENCE. 245 

took from him the seal of state, deprived him of all his 
honors and dignities, and declared him incapable of 
filling any office in future. 

Then said Suter: "You, my enemies, have neither au- 
thority nor right to pass such a sentence ; the general 
assembly shall judge between you and me." 

But before the meeting of the general assembly, many 
reports, unfavorable to Suter, were spread among the 
people. The capuchins, who were also his enemies, wen 
from house to house, and preached and spoke of Suter's 
secret sins and misdemeanors. When the general as- 
sembly was held, loud cries were raised among the people 
for and against the accused, and he was dragged by force 
from the landammann's seat, in spite of hundreds of voices 
proclaiming his innocence. 

Then, while this deserted and ruined man was making 
a pilgrimage to the miraculous image at Einsiedeln, he 
was, during his absence, banished forever by the council 
from the whole Confederacy, as an enemy to religion, 
liberty and peace ; his name nailed to the gallows ; his 
property, real and personal, sold at a very low price to 
pay the costs and his debts ; every one of his friends 
deposed from the council, and even his own true wife for- 
bidden, under penalty of deprivation of civil rights, to 
call him husband any longer. No one knew the reasons 
for so severe a punishment. So far as the judicial sentence 
expressed any, it mentioned only trivial faults, but hinted 
mysteriously at secret crimes, which could not be made 
public for fear of scandal. It was uncertain w^hether this 
mystery was intended to veil the iniquity of the banished 
man or that of his judges. 

The outlawed old man dwelt thenceforth, much com- 
miserated, at Constance, on the lake. Some years after, 
he demanded an impartial tribunal and a safe-conduct. 
Seventy men of Appenzell voluntarily united to serve 
him as an escort. But Suter's petition was refused, and 
four of the most resolute of the seventy were condemned 
to death and led to the place of execution, but pardoned 
after being whipped by the hangman. 

Now silence and terror prevailed. The banished maD 



246 DEATH OF SUTER. [l770- 

remained at Constance. Sometimes he went into the Outer- 
rhodes to see his friends. After a long while, there came 
into the country a person named Baptista Ross, who, when 
considered a partisan of Suter, had been declared infa- 
mous. When now again arrested he said, in order to make 
himself of consequence: '' Old Suter is raising a force in 
the Outer-rhodes to attack the town of Appenzell, and to 
rouse the people- to revolt against Geiger's party." He 
even cited some honest men as witnesses. But the honest 
men said : " He tells a falsehood." 

He was believed nevertheless ; the people were excited 
against the exile by atrocious calumnies ; then they deter- 
mined to get possession of his person. This was done in 
a shameful manner. They went as friends to his own 
daughter, who was married at Appenzell, and deceitfully 
persuaded her to write to him to come to the Crown-inn at 
Wald, a commune of the Outer-rhodes, where he would 
hear important and agreeable news. 

Unsuspectingly the old man obeyed the call of his de- 
ceived daughter. He was decoyed, under various pretexts, 
as far as Oberegg, a hamlet of the Inner-rhodes. There 
he was seized, bound and carried on an open sled to Ap- 
penzell (9th Feb., 1784). It was a rough winter's day. 
While his guards refreshed themselves at the inn of Al- 
statten, the old landammann lay praying upon the sled. 
The stormy wind shook the new-fallen snow from his grey 
locks. 

Before the criminal court he renewed the oath of his 
innocence. Thrice in a single day subjected to torture, he 
would acknowledge no guilt. Nevertheless sentence of 
death was pronounced against him. Twenty of the judges 
would not give their votes thereto, and solemnly protested 
in the records of the court against participation in the sen- 
tence. But it was carried into effect that same day (9th 
March, 1784). Old Suter heard his doom with all the 
calmness of innocence; with all the calmness of innocence 
he went to the place of execution. There his head fell. 



•I'ZSl.l THE SECRET FAMILIES. 241 



CHAPTER LYI. 

DISTURBANCES AND INSURRECTIONS IN THE CANTON OF FREIBURG. 

[A. D. 1781 to 1790.] 

While party-hate occasioned fermentation in the land 
of Appenzell, it showed itself still more dangerous in the 
canton of Freiburg. Dissatisfaction had long prevailed in 
cit}^ and country. 

Here, in the earliest times, the avoyers and a few judges 
had managed the affairs of the city and of the territory im- 
mediately surrounding it, which is still called the ancient 
district. Important matters were decided by the assem- 
bled people. When the people became too numerous for 
this, the supreme power was confided to a committee of 
wise men, called the great council. At first this council 
was composed of burghers of city and country, as repre- 
sentatives of a free people ; then of nobles and patricians 
only ; finally, of none but the members of certain families. 

Then, between the great and little councils (the legisla- 
tive and executive), the council of sixty, an intermediary 
authority, was established, and from this council of sixty 
proceeded yet another authority with greater power, the 
secret chamber (1553), which could nominate to and ex- 
clude from all offices. For a long while, an equal number 
of burghers from the four districts or banners of the city 
were chosen for the sixty and great council, but at last only 
the members of certain families, which were called the 
secret families. Finally (1784) all the other burghers were 
thenceforward forever excluded from entrance into the 
number of the secret families. 

Hence arose dissatisfaction among the city-burghers 
against the governing or secret families who held all the 
offices. And there was latterly a division among the se- 
cret families themselves, because the nobles among them 
claimed precedence over those who were not noble. With 
the decline of the liberty of the commons, industry lost 
its strength, and life. Before the institution of the secret 



24:8 PETER NICHOLAS CHENAUR. [lYSl- 

chamber, numerous weavers brought prosperity to the 
land; every year more than twenty thousand pieces of 
white cloth were sold to Venice alone. The number of 
working tanners in a single quarter of the city was nearly 
two thousand. But now there was an end to all this. 
The people of the ancient district also regretted the free 
old time ; for now they were nearly on a par with common 
subjects. 

Although the government had already, several times, re- 
pressed with severity, as criminal innovations, the respect- 
ful petitions of individual burghers and even of whole 
communes, some persons thought it a duty to renew their 
complaints, in consequence of the continued dissatisfaction 
of the people. 

In the pretty village. La Tour de Treme, upon his own 
extensive estate, lived a man well versed in the sciences 
and in the history of his country. His name was Peter 
Nicholas Chenaur, and he was much esteemed for his up- 
rightness and magnanimity. He and his friends, John 
Peter Paccaud and the lawyer Castellaz of Greyerz, saw 
that all petitions to the government would be useless with- 
out an earnest demonstration on the part of the whole 
people. They sent confidential messengers into the val- 
leys, and found all ready to sustain them. 

Then Chenaur ventured to go to the city of Freiburg 
(3d May, 1781), to lay the complaints of the country be- 
fore the council. Fifty or sixty armed men escorted him. 
But the council, already informed of the popular move- 
ment, had closed the gates against him, strengthened the 
troops and armed the citizens. Thereat wild cries of re- 
volt resounded from village to village. The alarm-bells 
were rung. When Chenaur saw the movement so general 
he became bolder, organized the people into battalions 
with officers, and breathed courage into them. Once again 
but in vain, did Castellaz send a petition to the council of 
Freiburg, requesting them to listen to the complaints of the 
people or to submit the difference to the mediating can- 
tons. This proving fruitless, Chenaur ('Ith May), with 
more than twenty-five hundred peasants, for the most 
part badly armed^ marched against Freiburg, as far as St, 



^-i790.] COLONEL FROIDEVILLE. 249 

James's chapel. With six or eight hundred men, he ad- 
vanced close to the city ; others went by the way of the 
gate of Bourgillon; five hundred lay in the woods of Scho- 
nenburg on the right bank of the Saanen. From distant 
parts of the canton many others were hastening. 

The garrison of the city marched out with great military 
pomp. By the side of the banners of Freiburg floated the 
standard of Berne. For Berne, called upon for help, had 
at once sent three hundred dragoons, then under drill. 
Colonel Froideville, a prudent and humane officer, com- 
manded them. 

Froideville spoke kindly to the insurgents, required 
them to lay down their arms, promised forgiveness of the 
past and a hearing of all their complaints by the govern- 
ment and mediating cantons. More the peasants had not 
asked. They were ready to lay down their arms on Froide- 
ville's word of honor. But when he demanded the sur- 
render of their leaders, they became suspicious, and refused. 

During these parleyings, the crowd of peasants had been 
surrounded and the heavy artillery brought up. When 
the insurgents saw this, they were terrified and threw 
down their arms. Those who could, fled. This flight 
struck terror into the bands behind. They hastily dis- 
persed. 

Among the fugitives was Chenaur. But one of his own 
people, Henry Rossier, either from anger at the failure of 
the enterprise or to curry favor with the victors, treach- 
erously murdered him from behind. The dead body of 
Chenaur, given up to the executioner, was cut into pieces, 
and the head exposed on a pike from the Romont gate- 
tower. Castellaz and Raccaud, condemned to be quar- 
tered, happily escaped by flight. Others of the leaders 
were punished by deprivation of life, property or honor. 

In the mean while, Berne, Solothurn and Lucerne had 
sent more troops, and mediators, to Freiburg. But the 
government gave notice that, from its own innate goodness, 
it would listen to the complaints of the communes ; then 
allowed the whole country no more than three days time 
to draw up in writing and submit a statement of griev- 
ances. Notwithstanding this short space, and notwith- 
11* 



250 IGNATIUS GIRARD AND ThSI- 

standing the soldiers with whom the city swarmed, numer- 
ous delegates of the communes hastened to Freiburg from 
far and near. 

The examination of the complaints dragged on from 
month to month, without result. Then the people thought 
of their disappointed expectations, and lamented the death 
of the man whose life had been a sacrifice. Every day 
Chenaur's grave was surrounded by praying multitudes. 
Pilgrims thronged to it with hymns and crosses and ban- 
ners. In vain did the government station sentinels with 
loaded arms ; in vain did the bishop condemn pilgrimages 
to Chenaur's remains ; nothing could prevent the people's 
grateful remembrance of the dead. 

The common burghers of the capital city and the twen- 
ty-four parishes of the ancient district had also hoped, with 
better prospect of success under the circumstances, to se- 
cure a recognition of their rights from the governing 
families. They asked only for access to the chamber of 
archives. There still lay the charters, sanctioned by oath, 
of the years 1404 and 1553, which guaranteed to the 
burghers and inhabitants of the city a share in the elec- 
tions and in the fundamental legislation. But the govern- 
ment said : '' The rules of your corporations and guilds 
are sufficient to inform you of your rights." Thus re- 
pulsed, the burghers and peasants could hope for justice 
only from the mediating cantons. After long attempts at 
conciliation, the following declaration from Berne, Lucerne 
and Solothurn at last suddenly appeared : " We will main- 
tain the present constitution of Freiburg with all our force ; 
the pretensions of the burghers are groundless and uncon- 
stitutional ; we however recommend to the government 
that no precedence be allowed to the nobles over the patri- 
cians of the secret families, that the burdens on the coun- 
try-people be diminished, and any abuses that may have 
crept in be corrected." 

The burghers, with consternation, heard this proclaimed 
from the pulpit (28th July, 1782). On the evening of the 
same day, all the four banners of the city assembled in 
front of avoyer Gady's house. The lawyer Ex:j, the nota- 
ry Guvsolan, the merchant Ignatius Girard, spoke in behalf 



%.] HTS FELLOW-CIflZKNS, 251 

of the citizens. The avoyer listened calmly, vath appa- 
rent assent. 

But, a few days afterwards, Eey was banished with his 
family for forty years, Guisolan for twenty, Girard for ten ; 
even Emanuel of Maillardon, son of one of the ruling fam- 
ihes, was exiled for six years, because he had said in an 
assembly of the banners : " It is desirable that the burgh- 
ers be reinstated in their ancient rights." Many others 
suffered in like manner. 

Nevertheless, the government wisely lightened many of 
the burdens of the peasants, increased the number of secret 
3itizens by the addition of sixteen families, and promised 
Ihat, in future, when one of these families became extinct, 
t should be replaced by three new ones. 



CHAPTER LYII. 

DISTURBANCES IN THE BISHOPRIC OF BALE, IN VAUD AND ORISONS. 

[A. D. 1790 to 1794.] 

But about this time also, there arose in the vicinity of 
Switzerland a storm which threatened misfortune to the 
Confederates and to all the thrones and countries of Eu- 
rope. France, in consequence of the continued extrava- 
gance of her former kings, was sunk in hopeless debt and 
misery. In spite of constant increase, the heavy taxes and 
imposts did not produce sufficient tt) pay the enormous in- 
terest and the expenses of the state, but there was an annual 
deficit of 140,000,000 of francs. The rich convents, nobles 
and princes would bear no portion of the burden, and the 
exhausted people could endure no more. In the courts 
of the king and princes, in the castles of the nobles, in the 
abbeys and great cities were still magnificence and abun- 
•^ance, feastings and pleasures, while the country-people 

V steeped in wretchedness and misery. Law did not 
overn, but arbitrary will ; there was no religion, but 
aockery and unbelief among the great, ignorance and su 



252 l^liE J'RENCH REVOLUTiON-. [l1^(h 

perstition among the lower classes. This must needs bring 
a curse upon the country. And it came. 

As soon as the dissipated court could no longer meet its 
expenses, and the people could no longer pay taxes, the 
whole came to the ground. When the king assembled the 
states-general for advice and assistance, they abolished the 
privileges of the nobles and clergy. The people rose and 
destroyed the prisons. The castles of the signiors disap- 
peared in flames. The property of the clergy was con- 
verted to the uses of the state ; its value was three thou- 
sand millions of francs. Then- the princes, nobles and 
clergy fled, terrified, into foreign lands ; many into Switz- 
erland ; many to the kings of other countries, whose help 
they asked. And when the kings armed and threatened, 
the French also seized the sword and said : " We are mas- 
ters on our own soil." 

There was a great difference of opinion in the minds of 
the whole world respecting these events. The rulers and 
privileged classes in other countries said: "The French 
are very wrong." But those who felt aggrieved by their 
own rulers and lords said : " The French are very right." 

So reasoned also in those days the people of the bishop- 
ric of Bale,* especially when their ruler and prince, bishop 
Joseph of Koggenbach, wished to prevent the communes 
of the bishopric from holding their customary and lawful 
assemblies. As the people insisted on their right, the 
bishop called on the Confederate cantons to uphold him ; 
and when they showed a disinclination to be mixed up in 
his disputes, he requested the emperor (1791) to send 
troops for a garrison. • Bale and the other Confederates 
were at first unwilling to allow the Austrians a passage 
through the Swiss territory, but finally consented. They 
thought this of little consequence, although the advocate 
of the states-general of the bishopric, court-councillor Von 
Rengger, had declared that the states-general had a right, 
under the treaty of 1781 with France, to introduce as many 
French troops as there were Austrians. Thenceforth the 
bishop had the power in his own hands ; Rengger was 

^ An allied district, not a Confederate state. 



-1794,J THE REPUBLIC OF RAURACIA. 253 

obliged to fly, and others who were of the same opinion 
with him were mercilessly condemned to the pillory and 
perpetual imprisonment. 

But about a year afterwards (April, 1792) war suddenly 
broke forth between France and Austria; then French 
troops entered the bishopric and drove out the Austrian 
garrisons. The bishop^ terrified, fled to Bienne ; soon, 
still further. No one helped him. It would have been 
better for him had he not exasperated his people. 

The French wisely respected Erguel and Munsterthal, 
which had long been in defensive alliance with Berne and 
Bienne ; but they occupied Pruntrut and those districts of 
the bishopric which were nearest to Germany. And court- 
councillor Yon Kengger came back. With his partisans, 
he roused the whole land. The bishop's officers were 
driven away and the prince's revenues sequestrated. But 
when Louis XYL, king of France, was dethroned by his 
own people, and his kingdom made a free republic, Keng- 
ger also planted at Pruntrut a liberty-tree, as it is called ; 
which is a high pole surmounted by a red cap, in token of 
the country's freedom. The delegates of the communes 
assembled around. There they abjured forever all con- 
nection with the bishop and also with the emperor and 
German empire (Nov., 1792). They formed their little 
state into a republic, which they baptised Rauracia. 

But great disturbances arose therefrom. For every one 
wished to command, no one to obey. The parties perse- 
cuted each other. Finally, many demanded the incorpo- 
ration of their country with France. When Rengger and 
his party saw that they could no longer maintain their 
authority, they gave up the life of their three-months old 
republic, and on the 7th of March, 1793, the assembled 
people decreed the union of the bishopric of Bale with 
France. And this was effected. Only Erguel and Mun- 
sterthal still remained independent, in consequence of their 
alliances with Berne. 

Probably, the Confederates would willingly have pro- 
tested against this dismemberment, for they were inimical 
to the French in their hearts, but, feeling their weakness, 
)yithoijt uuion among themselves and distrusting their 



254 THE SWISS LIFE-GUARDS. [1790- 

subjects and serfs, they dared do nothing. The Bernese 
patricians, moreover, by their incautious hospitality to 
French refugees, had incurred the suspicion of France. 
Therefore they were silent respecting the division of the 
bishopric of Bale, and dismissed the bishop with polite and 
consolatory speeches when, before the Diet at Frauenfeld, 
he claimed the right of Swiss neutrality against the French. 
Even when the people of the great city of Paris stormed 
the royal palace, and after a bloody fight (10th Aug., 1792) 
overpowered and slew the Swiss life-guards who were in 
the king's pay, not a man of the Confederates dared to 
make public complaint. 

The world rang with arms and cries of war, with revo- 
lutions, battles and defeats. The French promised frater- 
nity and assistance to every people who wished to make 
themselves free. They beheaded their own king, Louis 
XYI. Their arms advanced victorious through Savoy and 
the Netherlands and over the Rhine. Nearer and nearer 
drew the danger around the country of the Alpine people. 

But the government of the Confederate states showed no 
foresight in view of the danger. They thought themselves 
safe behind the shield of their innocence and their neutral- 
ity between the contending parties. They had no arms 
and prepared none; they had no strength and did not 
draw closer the bands of their everlasting compact. Each 
canton, timidly and in silence, cared for its own safety, but 
little for that of the others. Freiburg, Berne and Solo- 
thurn did, indeed, unite for mutual defence, not so much 
against violence and danger from without as against dis- 
satisfaction in their own territories. 

Since 1782, Berne had an unsettled dispute with Yaud 
respecting contributions for the repair of highways to the 
capital city. The commune of Morsee had brought for- 
ward documents (1790) to show that the whole of Yaud 
should be exempted from contributions. Others now 
claimed other rights which Berne had allowed to fall into 
disuse in the course of centuries. All kinds of pamphlets 
stirred up the people. At Lausanne, Yevej, RoUe and 
other places, fiery young men, in noisy assemblages, drank 
success to the arms of emancipated France, Although 



41U:] fUK LORDS Of SAtt^. 265 

public order was nowhere disturbed bj sucli proceedings, 
the government of Berne thought it necessary to put a stop 
to them by severe measures and to compel silence by 
wholesome fear. They sent plenipotentiaries supported by 
an armed force. The guilty and even the innocent were 
punished. More fled. This silenced Yaud, but did not 
quell her indignation. The fugitives breathed vengeance. 
By letters and pamphlets they excited the hearts of their 
fellow-citizens against the long-revered government. To 
be merciful at the right moment, to be firm at the right 
moment, not to be haughty in the possession of overpower- 
ing strength, not to appear cowardly in desperate circum- 
stances ; this is the highest and hardest task of those in 
authority. 

This was often forgotten among the free Orisons also, 
where the old popular parties still quarrelled, not to the 
loss but to the abuse of freedom. Here the principal fam- 
ilies, among whom that of the lords of Salis was preemi- 
nent, had long been in possession of the most lucrative offices 
and of the revenues of the country ; thus, at a low rate, 
they bought the most important magistracies in Yaltelina, 
which the Grison communes were accustomed to sell every 
two years at auction to the highest bidder, and in which 
the purchasers usually enriched themselves by selling right 
and justice to the subjects ; also, the offices of captains and 
colonels in the Grison troops on foreign service, and the 
Grison tolls, which were the only revenue of the state. 

But when other respectable families of the country, 
among them the distinguished Tscharners, Bawiers and 
Plantas, united to resist the exclusive possession of such 
great advantages; when (1787) they raised the rate of the 
tolls-purchase from 16,000 to 60,000 florins ; when they 
demanded that the officers in the pay of France should no 
longer be appointed by favor but according to length of 
service; when shortly afterwards, the oppressed subjects 
in Valtelina brought forward complaints against the injus- 
tice of their venal magistrates and the violation of their long 
acknowledged rights ; both parties became inflamed with 
irreconcilable rancor against each other. They appealed to 
the people. 



256 TRitJMPS oJ^ tnhi plantas. fi?07- 

When any evil occurred, each blamed the other. When 
a French embassador, named Semonville, going to Venice 
through Valtelina, was seized and delivered to the Aus- 
trians (1793), the Salis party were accused of this treachery. 
When there was a scarcity of corn in the land, the Planta 
party were accused of selling grain to the French ; and the 
people, excited against them, rose (1794). 

Each of the three leagues sent thirty-two men to Coire. 
They formed a general states-assembly for the examination of 
the complaints. The Planta party justified themselves, then 
skilfully turned public indignation against their adversa- 
ries and demanded their punishment, together with the re- 
form of abuses. An impartial tribunal condemned many 
of the original complainants to fines and restitution, others 
to banishment from their fatherland. 



CHAPTER LYIII. 

HISTORY OF PARTIES AND EXCESSES IN GENEVA. 
[A. D. 1707 to 1797.] 

In the mean time the violent war-storm had shaken half 
the world, and human blood, shed by the sword of battles, 
had reddened land and sea. The allied kings had sworn 
to tame France; France, to dethrone the kings. The Con- 
federacy still stood unattacked, between the contending 
powers, and with armed men on her borders, more to mark 
the limits of her territory than to defend it. But every 
patriot trembled for the future. Never were internal union 
and confidence between people and governments more ne- 
cessary or less prevalent. 

In Geneva the spirit of discontent had prevailed for 
nearly a hundred years. The grasping ambition of the 
noble families displeased the people. More than once the 
city had witnessed scenes of tumult and blood. First, 
when the dissatisfied citizens complained (1707) that a few 
families were constantly in possession of the highest 



1191.] JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU. 257 

offices, that the council did not regard the laws, but gov- 
erned arbitrarily and no longer consulted the commons 
on important matters. The executive council called for 
Confederate intervention, then for a garrison from Berne 
and Zurich, and, under the protection of foreign arms, 
caused the prominent defenders of the citizens' rights to 
be hung, shot, degraded or banished. 

The blood thus shed terrified and embittered the citizens, 
and, on the other hand, so increased the self-confident 
boldness of the council, that thej felt no hesitation in 
trampling under foot the ancient constitution of the re- 
public, or even in arbitrarily increasing the taxes for the 
purpose of strengthening the city -fortifications. Michael 
Ducrest, one of the great council, protested against this, 
and carried all the citizens with him. The council con- 
demned him to perpetual imprisonment (1781) and Berne, 
under whose protection Geneva had placed herself, exe- 
cuted the sentence on him at Aarburg. More than once 
insurrections took place ; more than once Zurich and Berne 
interfered. Peace was not restored. The rancor and bit- 
terness of parties increased. There were even bloody con- 
flicts between them in the streets (1737). Finally (1738), 
delegates from France, Berne and Zurich having limited 
the pretensions of the executive council and of the princi- 
pal families, and wisely regulated many other matters, in 
an edict which was approved by the council and citizens, 
peace seemed to be reestablished. 

But, when (1762) the executive council ordered two 
books written by Jean Jacques Kousseau, a philosopher 
of Geneva, to be torn by the hangman, and some of the 
citizens presented a remonstrance which the council re- 
fused to receive, fresh hate showed itself in fresh parties. 
One party called themselves Kepresentatives and said: 
"The executive council ought to receive all complaints 
against their own proceedings, and submit them to the 
general assembly of the citizens for their decision ;" the 
others called themselves Negatives, were supporters of 
the government, and said: "No, the citizens' assembly 
have no right of control over the council." The dispute 
on these matters gave rise to disputes on a hundred others, 



258 REPRESENTATIVES AND NEGATIVES. [1707- 

and there was no end to the disorders and riotous meet- 
ings, until Berne, Zurich and France proposed to inter- 
vene once more. In order to prevent foreign interference, 
the council and citizens quickly came to an agreement 
(1768), and the government granted to the citizens the 
right of choosing one half of the new members at ea.ch 
renewal of the great council, and of yearly deposing four 
members of the little council, who should not be reeligi- 
ble ; and many other rights also. A reform in the code 
of laws was also promised ; and additional freedom in the 
exercise of their trades granted to those native-born in- 
habitants whose fathers had been long established in 
Geneva, and had always been zealous in support of the 
citizens' party, while some of them might yearly be 
elevated to the rights of citizenship by the government. 

This agreement, however, was of short duration, because 
it had its origin in fear only, not in good feeling. The 
anger of the governing families was excited at having 
yielded so much. They wished again to become all-pow- 
erful ; delayed the reform of the laws ; sought the assist- 
ance of the French court, and half withdrew the promise 
made to the native inhabitants. And the French minister 
Yergennes, who was jealous of the thriving industry of 
Geneva and wished to draw it, by emigration, into France, 
took part in the quarrel. By fine promises, he stirred up 
the Nes^atives and those numerous inhabitants who deem- 
ing themselves entitled to citizenship by right of birth 
thought they were defrauded of their privileges by the 
old citizens, against the Eepresentative and people's-party, 
and persuaded them to make riots in hopes of getting the 
mastery. When the Representative-party perceived this, 
they seized their arms, secured the gates, and disarmed the 
Negatives. But they were so prudent that, in order to 
gain over all the native inhabitants, they renewed the 
promises formerly ^made respecting new citizenship, and 
granted to the new citizens nearly the same privileges 
with the old. This agreement was confirmed by an edict 
passed 10th February, 1781. 

This stroke of policy vexed the governing families and 
tlieir party, the Negatives, as well as the Yv - •' court 



-1797 J FOREIGN INTERFERENCE. 259 

The latter, in order to produce fear, sent six hundred men 
to Versoy, in the neighborhood of the city. But Zurich 
and Berne were offended thereat ; for the armed guaranty 
of the treaty of 1788 did not belong to France. The Con- 
federates declared themselves relieved from that guaranty. 
When France knew this, she also would have no more to 
do with it. Thus the Genevese were left free to settle 
their quarrels among themselves. 

As all parties were equally accusers and judges, and the 
government pertinaciously strove to win back tiieir former 
authority by force and fraud, the hatred of the old and 
new citizens broke forth into fresh flame. The govern- 
ment secretly distributed grenades among the soldiers of 
the garrison. But the citizens, old and new, stormed the 
city-gates ; many soldiers were killed ; the little and great 
councils deposed and a new one chosen from the Kepre- 
sentative-party. Many members of the old government 
fled. But France and Berne said : '' We will not allow a 
government to be deposed by rebels." The king of Sar- 
dinia was also persuaded to assist in restoring the old 
government. Then French, Savoyard and Bernese troops, 
twelve thousand strong, appeared before the city (Maj^, 
1782). Zurich did not interfere. Geneva, divided against 
herself, soon opened her gates. 

Now France, supported by Berne, gave the law ; the old 
government was reinstated with full power; the party of 
the Negatives triumphed and the common citizens lost 
many of their long-enjoyed privileges. When the citizens 
were required to confirm this, barely six huEdred were al- 
lowed to vote ; the rest were excluded because they had 
taken part in the last insurrection. But, even of the vo- 
ters, there were one hundred and thirteen men who refused 
to assent to this extinction of Genevese liberty. 

The government, protected by Berne, Sardinia and 
France, at once forbade all close societies, all military ex- 
ercises on the part of the citizens, all books and pamphlets 
on recent events, and, on the departure of the foreign 
troops, increased the garrison to twelve hundred men, com- 
manded by foreign officers. Thus were the Genevese re- 
duced to subjection. Many emigrated with hearts full of 



260 RISING OF THE PEOPLE. [l^OY- 

vengeance against their oppressors. Five and twenty of 
the vanquished Representative -party were banished forever 
or for limited times ; those clergy who had taken part in 
the matter were deposed from their cures. 

Injustice never thrives, and the love of precious liberty 
is not extinguished by condemnations of books or by bay- 
onets. When the government raised the price of bread on 
the oppressed citizens (Jan.^ 1789), the long-restrained 
hatred of the people burst forth. The citizens armed them- 
selves as well as they could against the hireling garrison, 
filled the fire-engines with boiling water and put to flight 
the satellites of the government. Thereat the rulers were 
terrified, reestablished the previous price of bread, prom- 
ised to improve the constitution, to diminish the garrison, 
to restore arms to the citizens, to remove the most onerous 
taxes, and to raise to the privileges of old citizenship such 
families of new citizens as had been established in Geneva 
for four generations. All this was done. Berne and Zu- 
rich were persuaded to renew their ancient confederate 
alliance with Geneva, and joy prevailed. 

The government united the more firmly and willingly 
with the citizens, because they could hope for no help from 
France, where the people had risen against their king. 
But fresh disturbances took place. These were occasioned 
by the peasants in the villages which were dependent on 
Geneva and subject to the city, as well as by the native vas- 
sals and foreign inhabitants of the city, who demanded an 
equality of rights (Feb., 1791). They more than once came 
to blows on this quarrel, but the citizens firmly upheld the 
government. Nevertheless the excitement increased. Some 
of the former emigrants or exiled burghers of the city who 
were established in France, wished to avenge themselves 
and effect the union of Geneva with France. The French 
resident minister at Geneva, Chateauneuf, also made a party 
with this object, and underhandedly persuaded the peas- 
ants and subject-inhabitants to rise against the govern- 
ment and privileged citizens. All must have equal rights. 
The people were also told that the rich should be plundered. 

At this very time, the French army, intended for Savoy 
and Italy, approached the city (Sept., 1792), and Geneva, 



-179'?.] REVOLUTIONARY MISRULE. 261 

in great terror, implored the assistance of Berne and Zu- 
rich, according to treaty. They immediately sent auxilia- 
ries, but quickly withdrew them, when the French army 
retired and the government of France uttered threats. As 
soon as the troops were withdrawn, the non-privileged new 
citizens and inhabitants and the peasants armed themselves 
and seized the arsenal (Dec, 1792). There were many 
dissatisfied old citizens with them. In a forced general 
assembly of the commons, they deposed the great and little 
councils, and instead of these elected a committee of public 
safety, a committee of government and a national conven- 
tion, like the French, with legislative powers. Then all 
order was at an end. Eioters and brawlers ruled. Who- 
ever held not with them was called an aristocrat. Eight 
and justice disappeared. Party-hate raged. And, as in 
France, the populace, greedy of blood and plunder, at 
last obtained the ascendancy, so they were masters also in 
the unhappy city of Greneva, and committed the greatest 
excesses. There was no more quiet or safety. 

The party of the so-called Eevolutionists, entirely to de- 
stroy the party of the aristocrats, finally, on a summer's 
night (July, 1794), took possession of the heavy artillery 
and of the whole city ; cast into prison many of the formerly 
most respected citizens, magistrates and men of letters ; or- 
ganised a court by which sixty of these were sentenced to 
be executed, others to be banished, the property of many 
to be confiscated and the rest punished in various ways. 
These persecutions lasted, with some intervals, for two 
years, during which those who had seized the government 
wasted and consumed a large portion of the property of the 
state and of the plundered citizens. 

When, however, the people in France had become more 
quiet and the republican government itself more humane^ 
in Geneva also an intolerable fear of anarchy took posses- 
sion of both parties. This united all honest men who de- 
sired order. Then disorder ceased. The exiles came 
back. A new constitution, with recognition of state-citi- 
zenship and the sovereignty of the people, was established 
(1795), according to which all old and new citizens, all old 
and new inhabitants of city and country, born on Grenevao 



262 RESTORATION OF ORDER. [l794- 

territory, enjoyed equal rights. Peace and harmony once 
more prevailed. Geneva found some quiet after long 
storms, but only for a short time. 



CHAPTER LIX. 

OF THE ANCIENT DISTRICT OF ST. GALLEN AND THE WISE ABBOT 

BEDA ; HOW DISTURBANCES ALSO BROKE FORTH ON THE LAKE OF 

ZURICH. 

[A. D. 1794 to 1797.] 

The general war of the kings and princes against the 
French people grew in the mean while ever more furious, 
ever more near. Among the Swiss mountains could be 
heard the thunder of cannon from Italy, from Suabia, from 
the Ehine. But the rulers of the Confederates seemed not 
to apprehend the danger which always threatens the weak 
placed between powerful neighbors. 

The banners of France waved victorious through Savoy 
and the Netherlands, through Lorraine and Holland, and 
over the soil of Germany. Wherever they appeared, 
princes, counts and nobles fled in terror, and liberty was 
proclaimed to the subject-people. The magistrates of the 
cantons barely restrained their hatred and contempt of the 
conquerors ; they sat in proud security, although the agi- 
tation grew more violent about them day by day, and 
many of their people desired more freedom. 

In the ancient district of the abbot of St. Gallen, also, 
the people rose against the domination of the convent. 
For they could no longer bear to be deprived of their 
rights, and to be oppressed by new and extraordinary 
charges, duties and burdens of the severest servitude, by 
means of which the monastery grew constantly richer and 
increased its domains, while the ecclesiastics and officers 
of the abbey contributed nothing towards the imposts. 

Five communes of the district took courage and deliber- 
ated together respecting the just complaints they should 
lay before the abbot. Soon the whole bailiwick of Ober- 



berg joined them. The crowd of those who, with or 
without reason, had complaints to make, increased daily, 
so that the number of pubUc grievances amounted to sixty. 
Thereon the communes assembled, chose committees, and 
held council at Gossau (March, 1795). At their head was 
a talented, eloquent and courageous man, John Kunzli. 
He conducted every thing with great prudence. All the 
communes signed the paper in which their grievances 
were detailed and presented it to the abbot. 

The abbot and prince, Beda Angehrn, was a wise and 
good man. He well knew the misery of the poor people, 
for he was himself the son of a subject of the abbey, from 
the village of Hagenwyl in Thurgau. He would gladly 
have relieved the oppressed people ; but of all the ecclesi- 
astics of the abbey only two thought like him. The others 
were angry with the people and said : " This is the French 
freedom-madness! If the people will not be silent, we 
must call for assistance on the governments of the Confed- 
erates, who have already frequently helped us against our 
subjects." And they opposed the wise Beda, and so 
troubled his life, that he had already, at an earlier time 
(1788), determined to abdicate. But then pope Pius VI. 
refused his permission, and in a severe letter (16th Aug., 
1788) commanded the chapter to desist. The ecclesiastical 
lords designedly prolonged the discussion in order to tire 
out the people. 

"When the prince-abbot perceived their subtlety, he said 
to the monks : " This is not the time for rulers and sub- 
jects to be at variance ; they should be united when dan- 
ger and misery threaten from abroad. Therefore, if you 
persist in repelling the people, I will throw myself alone 
into their arms." 

And he did so, gave to the people great privileges (Nov., 
1795), the right to choose the land- and war-councils, to 
hold assemblies of the communes, to nominate their muni- 
cipal officers, and to buy themselves free from the charges to 
which they had hitherto been subject. He abolished ser- 
vitude, and decreed that the ecclesiastics and officers should 
also bear their share of the imposts, and that the abbey 
ghould purchase no more real estate. This brought great 



264 LAVATER AKB FtTSSLI, [l794 

joy into the land, and blessings were showered on the wise 
Beda. Soon, the monks of the abbey assented to the 
agreement which had been sworn to by the people and 
prince ; but only in appearance. So deceitful were they, 
that almost in the same hour (20th January, 1796) they 
drew up and signed a secret reservation of rights against 
their rebellious subjects, as they called the people. They 
thought they could thereby annul their official act, and, 
under more favorable circumstances, take back all they 
had granted. The Confederates, also, protectors of the 
abbey, in their hearts disapproved the kindness of the 
pious prince towards his subjects. However, they finally 
(August, 1797) ratified his doings, because they could not 
prevent them. 

About the same time similar movements took place 
among the peasants on both sides of the lake of Zurich, as 
they were anxious to revive their ancient rights. But 
this undertaking resulted in great suffering and ruin. 

Zurich had indeed always governed with justice and 
prudence the subject-communes of her territory, held them 
in respectful submission, and by a wise administration 
caused the country to flourish. Seldom had the subjects 
to complain of acts of severity or violence, or of injustice 
on the part of venal magistrates. Since two virtuous 
burghers of the city, John Caspar Lavater and Henry 
Fussli, had once (1762) publicly accused Felix Grebel, the 
wicked bailiff of Gruningen, of injustice, and he had been 
compelled to leave his country in disgrace, no one had 
dared to follow in his footsteps. 

But other grievances distressed the country, and espe- 
cially the industrious inhabitants on the borders of the 
lake ; these were the severe restraints of the trades-corpo- 
rations and the monopoly of commerce by the capital-city. 
For only the most indispensable handiwork could be ex- 
ercised by the peasants in the villages, and no commerce 
was allowed except in wine and grain ; the numerous cot- 
ton-weavers were obliged to buy their raw material in the 
city and there to sell their cloth when manufactured. 
Even what they wove for the use of their own families 
must first be sold to the citizens and again purchased aftei 



-1797.] THE PEOPLE OF STAFA. 265 

it had been bleached and printed. Ecclesiastical and civil 
offices were closed to the country-people and filled by 
citizens' sons only. The son of the country-man, confined 
to the plough and the pruning-hook, or to day -labor in the 
city, could never raise himself from the dust. 

But when the French people, triumphant in their free- 
dom, no longer acknowledged any distinction between 
peasant and noble, between city and country, many of the 
people on lake Zurich were excited by this example, and 
said among themselves: "Why is it not so with us? 
While we are called free Swiss, we are in subjection to 
the city. We are like the slaves in many countries." 
And their excitement was increased by such talk. Some 
men of the village of Stafa on the lake disseminated their 
opinions respecting the eternal rights of mankind and re- 
specting the subjection of the country-people to the city, 
and thought that Zurich ought at last to yield greater 
freedom to her subjects. They drew up a memorial to be 
presented to the government, in which they asked for 
freedom of trade and commerce, equal rights to employ- 
ment and office for the country-man as well as the citizen, 
permission to purchase ground- rents and many other things 
(1794). But what they requested could not be granted 
without the abolition of centuries-old guilds and corpora- 
tions, and the abrogation of the ancient constitution of 
Zurich as an imperial city, to maintain which an oath was 
taken eveiy year. 

When this memorial was sent from commune to com- 
mune for approval, and received everywhere with accla- 
mation, the city learnt the proceedings of the people on 
the lake. Immediately all those who had shown them- 
selves most active were seized and punished with the 
greatest rigor, as fomenters of a revolt, some by banish- 
ment from the Confederacy, many others by fines and de- 
privation of civil rights (I3th January, 1795). 

The punishment of so many malcontents did not dimi- 
nish, but rather increased, the number. Then some lords 
of the council in Zurich promised them : " If you can show 
charters and seals to prove your right to privileges which 
you do not enjoy, we will gladly help you." 

12 ^ --■ '■ ■ '-' ■' y 



266 THE LAKE-COMMUNES. [l794- 

Thereat, in the annual general assembly of Stafa (May, 
1795) four of the oldest men came forward and said : " It 
was told us by our fathers that in the archives of the 
commune existed documents and charters which assured 
to the people privileges that have been neglected in the 
lapse of ages. Let us search for and examine them." 
Although the secretary and bailiff forbade every one even 
to speak of such documents and charters, the people would 
not be prevented. And they found in a mill the perpetual 
covenant made in 1489, on the day of burgomaster Wald- 
mann's execution, between city and country, before the 
tribunal of the Confederates. This covenant, which had 
never been annulled, and which was solemnly guaranteed 
by seven confederate cantons, established general freedom 
of trade and commerce. They also found a document ex- 
ecuted by the burgomaster, council and Two-hundred of 
Zurich in favor of the country, after the troubles of the 
war of Kappel (1582). Thereby all former privileges 
were reaffirmed and even a participation in the govern- 
ment granted. 

Then the communes of Stafa and Kussnacht, Horgen, 
Thalwyl, Ehrlibach and others, sent their deputies to the 
bailiffs and magistrates, respectfully asking: "If these 
documents had been annulled by later ordinances, or were 
still in force ?" But the deputies were sent back, and the 
government of Zurich would neither confess nor deny the 
validity of the ancient documents, because both courses 
seemed equally dangerous. The proceedings of the lake- 
communes were treated as culpably seditious, and they 
were summoned to the city to answer. 

But when those who were summoned did not appear, 
and, to excuse their disobedience, the communes, especially 
Stafa, declared : *' We have given to no one authority to 
treat for us in these matters : but we request that these 
public interests of the country may be discussed with our- 
selves," the city became very angry. She armed her 
troops. All communication with Stafa was cut off. Many 
natives of that place were driven from the capital. And 
one Sunday morning (5th July, 1795) when the people of 
Stafa were assembled in church to worship God, the Zu- 



-179Y.] TREASURER BODMER. 207 

richers with twenty-five hundred men and heavy artillery, 
entered the peaceful village. 

Then Zurich published this declaration: "All your 
documents and charters are null and void. For one of 
them was granted at a period when all lawful authority 
was suspended, and was assented to by the seven confed- 
erate cantons only to prevent greater evils. The other 
was intended merely for peculiar times and circumstances, 
and was completed and ended with them. We do not find 
that a single provision of either document has been ful- 
filled during the space of three hundred years, or that such 
non-fulfilment has given rise to any complaint on the part 
of the country." 

So said Zurich. The seven confederate cantons, wit- 
nesses and guarantors of the thus annulled covenant, were 
appealed to by the lake-commnnes. They were all silent. 
Glarus alone, faithful to the engagement of her fathers, 
exhorted Zurich to trust to justice rather than force, as no 
other security can be so great for a state as the confidence 
felt by every part in the enjoyment of just rights. 

Stafa, disarmed and surrounded by bayonets, was 
obliged solemnly to swear the old oath of submission. All 
who had taken an active part in the matter of communal 
rights were punished in various ways : some with perpet- 
ual, others with ten or twenty years' imprisonment ; some 
with the house of correction, others with banishment; 
some with stripes, others with heavy fines. The commune 
of Stafa, although it had borne for several months the 
expenses of a military occupation, was still obliged to pay 
78,000 florins for costs. One of the oldest and most re- 
spected citizens, the grey-haired treasurer Bodmer, was led 
to the scaffold in Zurich and the sword of the executioner 
brandished over his head, in token that he deserved death, 
because he had first insisted on the search after the docu- 
ments. Then he was carried back to prison, being sen- 
tenced to remain there during his life. 

Thenceforward the silence of terror prevailed in the 
country, and the thirst for vengeanQe in all hearts. 



268 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1791- 



CHAPTER LX. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD CONFEDERACY. ENTRANCE OF THE 
FRENCH INTO THE LAND. 

[A. D. 1797 and 1798.] 

In foreign countries dwelt sadly many of those who, at 
various times, had been banished from the Confederacy 
because they had, by word or deed, too boldly or impor-- 
tunately defended the rights and freedom of their fellow- 
citizens. Several of these addressed the chiefs of the French 
republic, and, with vengeance in their hearts, said : " Those 
who now rule the thirteen cantons of the Confederacy 
have driven us from our fatherland ; they are your ene- 
mies, as well as ours, in the cause of freedom. They pre- 
fer to have subjects rather than fellow-citizens, and think 
themselves little kings and princes. Therefore they se- 
cretly assist kings and princes against you. Help the 
Swiss people to recover their lost liberty ; they call you, 
and await you with open arms. Free men are the truest 
allies of the free." 

Such addresses pleased the chiefs of France. They 
thought in their hearts that Switzerland would be an ex- 
cellent bulwark for France, and a desirable gate, through 
which the way would be always open to Italy and Grer- 
many. They also knew of and longed for the treasures 
of the Swiss cities. And they endeavored to find cause 
of quarrel with the magistrates of the Confederates. But 
the latter warily avoided giving offence, acknowledged 
the free French constitution, and drove away from their 
territory the unfortunate princes, priests and nobles who 
had fled from the rage of the French people and found 
shelter in the Swiss valleys. 

Shortly afterwards, came the great general Napoleon 
Buonaparte, and marched through Savoy into Italy against 
the forces of the emperor. At this time, only the emperor, 
with the German empire and the English, struggled against 
France, as the kings of Spain and Prussia had already 



-1798.] THE CISALPIKfi RKPUBLIC. 269 

made peace with her. And in a very few months, though 
in many battles, Buonaparte vanquished the whole power 
of Austria, conquered and terrified Italy from one end to 
the other, took the whole of Lombardy and compelled the 
emperor to make peace. He made Lombardy a republic, 
called the Cisalpine. 

When the subjects of Grisons in Yaltelina, Chiavenna 
and Bormio saw this, they preferred to be citizens of the 
neighboring Cisalpine republic, rather than poor subjects 
of Grisons. For their many grievances and complaints 
were rarely listened to. But Buonaparte said to Grisons : 
" If you will give freedom and equal rights to these peo- 
ple, they may be your fellow-citizens, and still remain with 
you. I give j^^ou time ; decide and send word to me at 
Milan." 

But the parties of masters in Grisons could not agree, 
and many of the Salis faction said : " Let the people of 
Yaltelina remain with us as subjects, or not at all." Now 
when the last period for decision had passed, Buonaparte 
became indignant and impatient, and united Valtelij:ia, 
Chiavenna and Bormio to the Cisalpine republic (22d Oct., 
1797). All the property of the Grisons in those countries 
was immediately seized and confiscated. Thus many rich 
families in Grisons were made poor. 

So the old limits of Switzerland were unjustly con- 
tracted ; four weeks afterwards also, that part of the bish- 
opric of Bale which had hitherto been respected on account 
of its alliance with the Swiss, was added to France. There- 
at great fear fell on the Confederates. But still greater 
misfortunes awaited them. For the country-people in the 
canton of Bale murmured loudly against the city ; in Aar- 
gau several cities reclaimed their old acknowledged priv- 
ileges from Berne, and Vaud demanded her lost rights 
with more energy than ever. Then the rumor spread that 
a French army was approaching the frontiers of Switzer- 
land to protect the people of Vaud. They had called for 
the intervention of France in virtue of ancient treaties. 
But report said that the French intended to overthrow the 
Confederate authorities and to make themselves masters 
of the country. 

Y* 



2?d UNIVERSAL CONFUSION. [1797-. 

Berne and Freiburg immed lately raised troops to terrify 
Vaud and Aargau, and reduce them to silence by force of 
arras. A Diet hastily assembled at Aarau. There was a 
great deal of talk, but no decision, because the Confederate 
cantons could not trust each other or their own people. 
This was a great misfortune, but did not date from that 
day. With a presentiment of the general ruin, the lords 
of the Diet at Aarau once more renewed the old oath of 
union (25th Jan., 1798), but without the conhdence or en- 
thusiasm of their heroic ancestors. Hardly had they sworn 
when a messenger came from Bale and said : " Six hun- 
dred men from the country have entered our city ; the 
castles of the bailiffs are in flames ; all subjects are declared 
free.'' Then terror seized the lords of the Diet ; they dis- 
persed immediately and in fear. 

Then there was great agitation throughout Switzerland, 
when men saw the fear and weakness of the magistrates, 
and with these, their opposition to the wishes of the peo- 
ple. In Schaffhausen and in Rheinthal, in Toggenburg, 
in the March, in Wesen and Uznach, committees of the 
peasants met, to help themselves. The Italian bailiwicks 
beyond the Alps planted a tree of liberty on the bank of 
the Ticino, with rebellious hands. Almost the whole Con- 
federacy was in a state of confusion and dissolution. • The 
governments of the cantons, powerless, distrustful and di- 
vided, acted each for itself, without concert. The people 
of each district acted also for themselves, but with various 
wishes and intentions. Some, ignorant and rude, could 
not comprehend the spirit of the age, and wished to main- 
tain the accustomed order of things. Others, with more 
information and insight, desired equality of rights between 
city and country. Others claimed only the restoration of 
privileges formerly guaranteed. Many thought that noth- 
ing could be secured without the assistance of France ; but 
the majority of all the people justly deprecated the inter- 
ference of a foreign power in the affairs of their fatherland. 

In- the mean while a large army of French advanced. 
Under their generals Brune and Schauenberg, they entered 
the territory of the Confederates, and Yaud, accepting for- 
eign protection, declared herself independent of Berne, 



•1798.] VAIN" RESISTANCE. 271 

Then the governments of Switzerland felt that they could 
no longer maintain their former dominion. Lucerne and 
Schaffhausen declared their subjects free and united to 
themselves. Zurich released the prisoners of Stafa, and 
promised to ameliorate her constitution to the advantage 
of the people. A thousand bonfires blazed on hill and 
valley along the lake of Zurich, when grey-haired Bodmer, 
with his fellow-sufferers, returned home from the city- 
prisons. Never in Switzerland was living man received 
with such solemn honors by his people. Even Freiburg 
now felt that the change must come for which Chenaur had 
bled. And the council of Berne received into their num- 
ber fifty-two representatives of the country, and said : 
*'Let us hold together in the common danger." 

All these reforms and revolutions were the work of four 
weeks ; all too late. Berne, indeed, with Freiburg and 
Solothurn, opposed her troops to the advancing French 
army. Courage was not wanting; but discipline, skill in 
arms and experienced officers. From Grlarus, Lucerne, the 
Waldstatten and other cantons came feeble help ; also the 
landsturm, variously armed, in tumultuous hordes, telling 
their beads. But this troop fled at the first bad news, 
without having seen an enemy. Then the Swiss and their 
rulers, in their inmost hearts, regretted that they had un- 
learned the art of arms and war, and in the days of peace 
had believed that it must last forever. Now neither the 
gold of their treasure-chambers, nor pomp, nor pride in 
long titles of nobility availed them ; nor prayer nor rosary. 
Heaven helps only those who march joyously to battle and 
to death in a just cause ; but rejects those who sit slug- 
gishly in arrogant security. 

On the very first day of the war (2d March, 1798), the 
enemy's light troops took Freiburg and Solothurn, and 
on the fourth (5th March), Berne itself. In vain did the 
Bernese make a victorious resistance near Neuenegg under 
their colonel Grafenried ; in vain did they fight valiantly 
on the Grauholz. Now that all was lost, the armed bands 
of peasants dispersed in despair, but cried treason and 
killed many of their own officers. 

The day of darkest fate had d.awne4 on the Confederacy; 



272 THE HELVETIAN REPUBLIC. [1191- 

but the spirit of the ancient bond had long since disap- 
peared. Even on the brink of the abyss, in the near pros- 
pect of general ruin, the small states did not unite for the 
common defence. Each cared and armed for itself alone ; 
negotiated for itself alone with the invading enemy, hav- 
ing no understanding with its neighbors and confederates. 
Weak when divided, all must needs perish. In vain did 
they invoke the remembrance of the heroic deeds of their 
ancestors; these sought a freedom which was worth dying 
for on the field of battle. With cowardly despair, grudg- 
ingly, and in some cases with secret reservation of future 
withdrawal, the liberty of the subjects was promised, sworn 
to, signed and sealed. Too late. The battalions of the 
French army already swarmed over the whole country 
from the Jura to the base of the Alps. 

France now authoritatively decided the future fate of 
Switzerland and said: "The Confederacy is no more. 
Henceforward the whole of Switzerland shall form a free 
state, one and indivisible, under the name of the Helvetian 
republic. All the inhabitants, in country as well as city, 
shall have equal rights of citizenship. The citizens in 
general assembly shall choose their magistrates, officers, 
judges and legislative council ; the legislative council shall 
elect the general government; the government shall ap- 
point the cantonal prefects and officers." The whole Swiss 
territory was divided into eighteen cantons of about equal 
size. For this purpose the district of Berne was parcelled 
into the cantons of Vaud^ Oberland, Berne and Aargau ; 
several small cantons were united in one ; as Uri, Schwyz, 
Unterwalden and Zug in the canton of Waldstatten ; St. 
Gallen district, Kheinthal and Appenzell in the canton of 
Santis; several countries subject to the Confederacy, as 
Baden, Thurgau, Lugano and Bellinzona, formed new can- 
tons. Valais was also added as one; Grrisons was invited 
to join ; but Geneva, Muhlhausen and other districts for- 
merly parts of Switzerland, were separated from her and 
incorporated with France. 

So decreed the foreign conquerors. They levied heavy 
war-taxes and contributions. They carried off the tons 
pf gold which Berne, Zuriph and other cities had accunau- 



-1798.] At6VS REDtK(^. 2?3 

lated in their treasure-chambers during tl eir dominion, 
and had been unwilling to use either for the benefit of 
their own people or for that of the Confederacy. They 
sent into France members of the governing or most distin- 
guished families as hostages for the payment of oppressive 
imports, or for the maintenance of public peace. They 
diminished, they exhausted the resources of the richest 
communes and of the poorest huts by the quartering of 
troops, by forced supplies for their support, and other ex- 
actions. In fact, Switzerland, self-sustained, could, with 
less cost and more honor, have better borne the burden of 
a year's war, than this occupation by a foreign army, than 
this fruit of the neglect and surrender of the old Con- 
federacy. 

But the mountaineers of Uri, Nidwalden, Schwyz and 
Glarus, original confederates in liberty, said : "In battle 
and in blood, our fathers won the glorious jewel of our 
independence ; we will not lose it but in battle and in 
blood." And, posted at their borders on the Schindellegi 
and on the Etzel, in view of the French troops, they took 
the oath of fidelity till death with their general Aloys 
Reding. Then they fought valiantly near Wollrau and 
on the Schindellegi, but unsuccessfully ; for the curate of 
Einsiedeln, Marianus Herzog, who commanded the Ein- 
siedelners on the Etzel, fled disheartened from that moun- 
tain. But Aloys Reding reassembled his troops on the 
Rothenthurm, near the Morgarten field of victory. There 
a long and bloody battle took place. The shepherds 
fought in a manner worthy of their ancestors, and, like 
them, victoriously. Thrice did the French troops renew 
the combat : thrice were they defeated and driven back 
to Aegeri in Zug. It was the second of May. Nearly 
two thousand of the enemy lay slain upon that glorious 
field. Gloriously also fought the Waldstatten on the next 
day near Arth. But the strength of the heroes bled away 
in their very victories. They made a treaty, and, with 
sorrow in their hearts, entered the Helvetian republic. 

Thus ended the old Bond of the Confederates. Four 
hundred and ninety years had it lasted; in seventy-four 
days it was dissolved. It fell in consequence of internal 
12* 



^74 FINAL SUBMISSION; [^798- 

weakness, but did not deserve so ignominious a fall. Its 
struggle against the power of the French, then over- 
whelming the world, was like the final struggle of an old 
man, who, with stiftening hand, seizes the sword, not to 
defend the flickering sparks of life, but merely to save his 
honor. 

Sa}^, son of Switzerland : What levelled your high rocky 
walls, opened your impenetrable mountain-gorges, bridged 
your broad lakes and your raging torrents, blunted the 
arms of your arsenals and rendered useless the gold of 
your city -treasures ? Eeflect and be warned I 



CHAPTER LXI. 

BOW THE SWISS SUFFERED GREAT CALAMITIES, UNTIL A NEW CON- 
FEDERACY WAS FORMED. 

[A. D. 1798 to 1808.] 

Now, when throughout the whole country between the 
Jura and the Alps, the customary order of things was 
changed, whether voluntarily or compulsorily, the enlight- 
ened citizens of the land said : "A great misfortune has 
befallen us. Let us improve it for the benefit of our 
fatherland. So long as we were divided into many small 
states, we were foreign and inimical among ourselves ; 
each canton was powerless for its own defence, poor in 
useful institutions, opposed to great public works. Now 
the old form is broken. The body is consigned to the 
dust. But nations are immortal, and called to a more 
glorious resurrection, as soon as their spirit hopefully 
strives for a higher destiny. Let the Swiss people form 
one family with equal rights; let us labor with single aim 
for the maintenance of liberty within and of independence 
without; so shall we once more be honored among the 
nations of the earth." 

But the uneducated mass of the people did not under- 
stand such words, and did nothing but lament their lost 



'1803.] FRENCH EXACTIONS. ^75 

quiet and customs. They desired independence and free- 
dom, but not union into one great whole; they would 
f have preferred, on the contrary, that each small district, 
each valley even, should be an independent, self-governing 
little canton, ruling itself in general assembly according 
to its will, and united with the others in a Confederacy. 

Every thing that occurred increased their regret for the 
past, their desire for such a hundred-faced Confederacy, 
and their dislike to the present or future order of affairs. 
The new general government, established at Aarau under 
the name of Executive-directory, commanded neither re- 
spect nor confidence, was strange to itself and to the people, 
dependent on and degraded by its protectors, the French 
authorities. In the senate and in the great council of the 
representatives of all the cantons, contentions took place 
between all parties, between the ideas of the people and 
of the schoolmen. In the country, the same parties 
showed their enmity, often with arms in their hands. 
New and old institutions and laws clashed most disas- 
trously. While the state was in want of the most necessary 
supplies, and the officers and clergy of their pay, the 
French commissioners, generals and soldiers lived in 
shameless extravagance at the cost of the country and 
sent to France the treasures they amassed by plunder. 

Thereat the people said : " This must not be !" And 
the magistrates of olden time, who had been deprived of 
their offices, and the monks, who feared the suppression 
of all convents, and the clergy, who had lost their salaries, 
and the traders and mechanics, who no longer enjoyed the 
privileges of guilds and corporations in the cities, travelled 
about and increased the popular dissatisfaction by their 
complaints. They dwelt on the prospect of a war between 
France and Austria, and exhorted the people to help the 
German emperor with all their power to dispossess the 
French. 

Therefore, when all the districts were summoned to take 
an oath to support the new constitution (July, 1798), dis- 
turbances and risings took place in Eheinthal, Oberland, 
Appenzell and other places. They were put down by 
force, and most fearfully in Nidwalden. There a capuchin, 



i76 MASSACRE li^ NIBWALDEK. [l'708-' 

Paul Styger, with other ecclesiastics, had excited the peo- 
ple to wild revolt, by preaching that the constitution im- 
posed by the French was the work of hell. They armed 
against the French army advancing under Schauenburg. 
Terribly on the lake, terribly among the mountains, did a 
handful of shepherds light for three days against the over- 
powering force. Three or four thousand French w^ere 
killed before the rest could penetrate the country. But 
then, in their rage, they burnt Stanstaad, Ennenmoos and 
Stanz, and pitilessly butchered men, women, children and 
priests who could not flee. Nearly four hundred ISTid- 
waldeners thus lost their lives in the midst of horrors (9th 
September, 1798). 

And shortly afterwards, when the government, which had 
removed its seat from Aarau to Lucerne (4th Oct.), because 
the former city was too small, ordered a tax and enrolling 
of the young men for military service, fresh disturbances 
took place in the cantons of Berne and Lucerne, and in other 
places. Many young men fled abroad that they might not 
be compelled to serve in the Helvetian militia, nor in the 
contingent of eighteen thousand soldiers which was to be 
furnished for the French army. 

At last the German emperor renewed the war against 
France. Already (19th Oct.) a body of his troops had occu- 
pied Grisons, whence all had been obliged to flee who had 
recommended a union with Helvetia. Afterwards, near 
Stockach in Suabia, the French received a severe defeat 
(21st March, 1799), and when the Austrian forces, vic- 
torious in numerous conflicts, advanced into Switzerland ; 
when, terrified by the enemy's near approach, the Helve- 
tian government thought themselves no longer safe at 
Lucerne, and removed their seat to Berne (31st May) ; then 
the various parties in the land acquired fresh life and fresh 
animosity. Swiss fought against Swiss under the banners 
of France and Austria. Insurrections and rebellions took 
place in many districts ; sometimes on account of the forced 
enrollment of the young men; sometimes in favor of 
Austria ; at Flawyl and Mosnang in Santis, at Menzingen 
and Rynach in Aargau, at Ruswyl in the canton of Lucerne, 
at Morat and other districts in Freiburg ; at Schwyz, where 



-1803.] MASSENA AND SUWARROW. 277 

the French were either killed or driven out; at Lugarno 
and in TJri, in Yalais and at Aarberg, and in many other 
places. In the valleys and on the summits of the moun- 
tains, on the lakes and above the clouds, the French and 
Austrians fought ; battle-field touched battle-field. Horse 
and man passed over the mountain- tops, which the chamois- 
hunter alone had reached before. By turns, the Germans 
and French took and lost Grisons and the mountains which 
enclose the sources of the Rhine. As far as the city of 
Zurich and thence to the St. Gotthard on the left, and to 
the Rhine on the right, advanced victorious the banners of 
the arch-duke of Austria (in June) ; with them were Rus- 
sians and Asiatic hordes. Such a calamity had not befallen 
the inhabitants of Switzerland since the days of the 
Romans, Allemanni and Burgundians. 

Many of the old deposed rulers hoped now for a speedy 
resumption of all their former authority. They even 
attempted it here and there, under the protection of the 
Austrian arms. The new abbot of St. Gallen, Pancratius 
Forster, himself came ; reduced his people to a severer ser- 
vitude than they had before known ; took away from them, 
with the help of dragoons, the charters of freedom which 
had been granted three years before, and broke into and 
rifled the archives of the ancient district. But he soon 
sujBfered for trusting to might without right. The cities 
of Zurich and Schaffhausen also learned that the people 
would not return to their former servitude on any terms. 

Shortly afterwards, when the brave French general 
Massena proved victorious in a terrible battle near Zurich 
(25th Sept.), and destroyed in the mountains the Rus- 
sians, whom Suwarrow, their commander-in-chief, had 
brought from Italy over the Alps, all was again subjected 
to the Helvetian constitution, even Grisons (July, 1800). 

At last the heads of the central government at Berne 
saw that such a state of things could not continue to advan- 
tage. Therefore they undertook to make reforms. But 
they could not agree among themselves. Regarding per- 
sons more than facts, the parties alternately overthrew each 
other, so that no one remained long in power, and no one 
benefitted the countrj. 

z 



278 REPEATED CHANGES. [l798- 

First the legislative council at Berne deposed the Execu- 
tive-directory (7th Jan., 1800), and established a new con- 
stitution and a new government, which took the name of 
Executive-commission ; then, seven months later, the 
Executive-commission, by a stroke of authority, deposed 
the legislative council (7th Aug., 1800) and summoned a 
new council, and the government called itself Executive- 
council. Then, after one year, a general Helvetian Diet 
was assembled at Berne (7th Sept., 1801), to form a better 
constitution for Switzerland. But as no agreement could 
be attained, the Diet was arbitrarily dissolved by a part of 
the legislative and executive councils, who introduced a 
constitution with a senate and little-council (28th Oct., 
1801). At the head of the little- council was placed Aloys 
Eeding, the victor at Kothenthurm, because his name was 
honored before all others by the Swiss people. But, as he 
did not possess the confidence of the French government 
and could not obtain the favor of those who hated to return 
to the old order of things, the senate was again arbitrarily 
dissolved by the little-council (17th April, 1802), and 
Aloys Eeding deposed. Men of note were summoned 
from all the cantons to construct yet another new constitu- 
tion. It was adopted, with a senate and executive-council, 
at the head of which, as landammann of Switzerland, 
Dolder, an adroit politician, was installed. 

The Swiss people looked with indifference upon these 
continual changes and overturnings of the ruling powers, 
by which laws and authority were shaken rather than 
strengthened. They lamented the endless disturbances, 
the taxes and contributions, the troubles occasioned by the 
French troops in the country. Riots and risings took 
place continually. Yalais especially suffered under the 
plundering domination of the French generals and soldiers, 
to whom it was given as a prey. In order to hold a road 
over the Alps into Italy, the French wished to separate 
Valais from Switzerland. 

A single desire invariably possessed all the districts of 
Switzerland : that each canton should organize its internal 
affairs a(;cording to its will ; each be free, in a new Bond 
and Confederacy, independent of French power, and r§- 



-1803.] THE PEACE OF AMIENS. _ 279 

lieved alike of foreign troops and former servitude. 
When a treaty of peace was finally concluded at Amiens 
between France and the other contending parties, and the 
French garrisons subsequently returned home from Switzer- 
land (Aug., 1802), the spirit of parties and districts fear- 
lessly broke forth with fresh violence. Yalais formed 
itself into a separate republic. Uri, Schwyz and Unter- 
walden armed against the Helvetian government. The 
city of Zurich, also, separated from it. Bale and Schaff- 
hausen followed the example. From Aargau, the land- 
sturm marched against Berne. The Helvetian government, 
though not entirely defenceless, fled to Lausanne, while a 
Diet assembled at Schwyz to reestablish the old Con- 
federacy (Sept., 1803). The weak Helvetian army, in the 
pay of the government, driven from the interior of Switz- 
erland, followed it to Yaud. Everywhere the parties 
armed ; the cities armed to overthrow the general govern- 
ment; the country-people armed to protect their liberty 
against the pretensions of the cities ; Yaud armed in de- 
fence of Helvetian unity and freedom. A general civil 
war was on the eve of breaking out. Blood already 
flowed. Then the powerful leader of the French people, 
Napoleon Buonaparte, turned his eyes towards Switzer- 
land. He commanded peace. On the reappearance of 
his formidable army (2.1st Oct.), all parties laid down the'r 
arms and requested him to me'diate between them ; Swi 5S 
trusted Swiss no longer. 



CHAPTER LXn. 

NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE GIVES TO THE SWISS AN " ACT OV 

MEDIATION." 

[A. D. 1803 to 1813.] 

He summoned delegates from all the cantons and parties 
to come to him at the city of Paris ; there he heard them. 
And after he had well understood them, his mighty word 



280 WITHDRAWAL OF THE FRENCH. [l803^ 

put an end to their disputes ; because he cared not for per- 
sons but for facts. He did not listen to the city-families, 
who wished for the restoration of their dominion and of 
servitude ; nor to those who desired that the whole of Switz- 
erland should be an undivided community, with a single 
code of laws and a general government for all ; but he 
listened to the majority of the people, who wished each 
canton to be self-governing, and city and country to be 
equal in right and privileges. Napoleon Buonaparte was 
a shrewd ruler, and he said to himself: *' If I grant this to 
the people they will be satisfied ; but Switzerland will be 
divided against herself, always without unity, weak and 
subject to my control." 

Accordingly he intervened and gave to the Swiss an 
*' Act of mediation," (19 Feb., 1803), which was to be a 
fundamental law for all. Each canton received therein its 
constitution. And he said : " Henceforth there shall be a 
new confederacy of nineteen cantons, viz. : the thirteen 
old ones with those of Grisons (including Rhezuns and 
Tarasp, but excluding Valtelina), Aargau (with Baden 
and Frickthal), Yaud, St. Gallen, Thurgau and Ticino (the 
former Italian -bailiwicks). No city, no family, shall have 
exclusive privileges ; no canton, subjects ; but every Swiss 
in city and country shall have equal rights, freedom in 
trade and industry, and liberty to establish himself wher- 
ever he may please, without hindrance from any one. 
The common interests of the Confederacy shall be managed 
by an annual Diet, held alternately at Freiburg, Berne, 
Solothurn, Bale, Zurich and Lucerne. The chief magis- 
trate of the vorort of each year, entitled landammann of 
Switzerland, shall have the general supervision, and shall 
communicate with the ambassadors of foreign powers. 
Each canton, on the other hand, shall be self-governing, 
with its own laws and magistrates." 

As soon as the nineteen cantons were organized and the 
Helvetian general government, which had returned from 
Lausanne to Berne, had dissolved itself, Buonaparte with- 
drew his troops from Switzerland. 

Nearly everywhere the districts of Switzerland joyfully 
arranged their internal affairs according to the new order of 



-1818.] ABBOT PA^CRATIUS. 281 

things, and gave in their adhesion. In the canton of Zu- 
rich only, several communes obstinately refused to take 
the oath, especially in the districts of Horgen and Meilen ; 
they complained about the burden of the forced redemption 
from tithes, ground-rents and other charges. They would 
listen to no representations, but maltreated innocent of- 
ficers, burnt the castle of Wadenschwyl (24 March, 1804) 
and seized their arms. The long disorders of past years 
had accustomed men to right themselves without regard to 
law. But auxiliaries from the neighboring cantons, joined 
with those who remained faithful in the canton of Zurich, 
quickly put down the rebellion after short skirmishes near 
Oberrieden, Horgen and on the Bocken. The leader John 
Jacob Willi, a shoemaker of Horgen, and some of his prin- 
cipal partisans, were punished by death, others by im- 
prisonment, and forty -two culpable communes by a war- 
tax of more than 200,000 florins. 

It was fortunate, however, that this spark was so speedily 
extinguished, before it became a flame, as it might have 
spread over all Switzerland. For parties were still un- 
reconciled in all the cantons and districts ; each thought : 
" If this new organization can be put down, we may rise 
above the others." The friends of Swiss unity murmured 
because they were displeased with the fresh division of 
their fatherland into nineteen cantons ; the convents, be- 
cause their existence became uncertain ; and Pancratius 
Forster, abbot of the former convent of St. Gallen, openly 
reviled the St. Gallen districts as rebellious vassals of the 
German empire, and thought he could more easily re- 
establish his authority by arrogance and violence than by 
just means. Many country districts were dissatisfied be- 
cause they did not have general assemblies to themselves, 
like the original cantons ; many patricians and city-families, 
because they had lost their privileges and the country- 
people were no longer subjects. 

The majority of the people, however, earnestly desired 
quiet and peace, held fast to the new organization and to 
the free state-ciUzenship which they had obtained. Tiiey 
overpowered the dissatisfaction of the few, and all feared to 
oppose the will of their powerful mediator, before whom 

z* 



282 DEiSTRUOTlON OF GOLDAIJ. [iSOS- 

even kings quailed. For such were the power and great- 
ness of Napoleon, that he placed the imperial crown on his 
own head, and held half the world in awe. 

Therefore the country was quiet, and a long succession 
of peaceful and prosperous years followed. The time of 
rebellions and civil wars had roused the spirit and vigor 
and self-reliance of the Swiss from their hundred years' 
slumber. They waked with fresh life, such as had not 
before been seen. They had become acquainted with each 
other during the storm, and were no longer strangers, as 
formerly. All the cantons felt an interest in what occurred 
in each. Numerous books, pamphlets and journals, for- 
merly suppressed by suspicious governments, enlightened 
the people on important matters, gave them a general in- 
sight into public affairs, and excited and sustained a before- 
unknown public spirit. Men of all the cantons formed 
associations for the improvement of public institutions, for 
the encouragement of the arts and sciences, for the pro- 
motion of union and patriotism. The Linth canal is an 
everlasting monument of this great, never before manifested, 
public spirit. Almost a million was voluntarily and readily 
raised to drain the marshy shores of the lake of Wal- 
lenstadt, which until then had produced only poverty, 
misery and fevers. Not less did the Confederate good- 
feeling show itself, when a portion of the Kossberg above 
Groldau, in the canton of Schwyz, undermined by autumn- 
rains, suddenly slid downwards, with horrible destruction, 
on the evening of 2d Sept., 1806. Goldau, Lowerz and 
numerous cabins, with hundreds of prosperous inhabitants, 
were buried deep beneath masses of rock. Now one sees 
there only a desolate waste, once it was a blooming valley. 

The people, everywhere free, and no longer, as formerly, 
crushed by a dominatibn which kept them in a state of 
tutelage, were inspired with fresh energy and applied 
themselves with ardor to commerce, industrial pursuits, 
agriculture and the care of flocks and herds ; no pro- 
hibitory laws of one canton against the others trammelled 
industry or change of domicile, as before. The cooperation 
of the citizens in public affairs compelled the governments 
to be humane and just, to reform imperfect laws, and to 



-1813.] THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 283 

favor usefal undertakings and institutions. The people 
wished to be free ; but without information and strength, 
no people can be independent. Therefore the schools of 
the country were multiplied and improved ; for the en- 
lightened man alone knows how to help himself and others. 
Therefore the military organization of the Confederates 
was placed on a new footing ; so that at an hour's notice, a 
well-trained force could defend the frontiers against a 
foreign enemy. In the space of ten years, more usefal 
improvements were projected and executed in Switzerland, 
than in the course of a century previously. 

Napoleon, emperor of the French, who, with invincible 
power, deposed kings from their thrones, dismembered old 
empires and conferred new crowns, as if he were lord of 
the world, showed himself friendly to Switzerland. But 
his continual wars interfered with and destroyed general 
commerce and trade. To the Confederates they made es- 
pecially onerous the fulfilment of the treaty by which they 
were to furnish to him, as formerly to the French kings, 
sixteen -thousand troops on pay, always complete in num- 
ber. The young men disliked this service because of the 
mortality of the numerous battle-fields in foreign lands. 
Many cities were displeased that the French had, by treaty, 
the same right of free establishment in Switzerland that the 
Swiss enjo3^ed in France. Many others, also, were dissat- 
isfied, and especially because the existence or non-existence 
of Switzerland depended on the will of a single man, be- 
fore whose wrath the mightiest of the earth trembled. 

However, when Napoleon had penetrated with an im- 
mense army into the depths and wilds of distant Kussia, and 
saw that great empire lie at his feet, God, the lord of all, 
withdrew his countenance from him. The frost of a few 
winter nights vanquished, in snowy deserts, the armies of 
the invincible. Then, when he fled in terror, the kings 
and nations of Europe raised their heads and swore the de- 
struction of him before whom they had so long been bowed. 
But he quickly assembled fresh forces in great numbers, 
and, with horse and foot, marched against the kings of 
Europe, over the Ehine into central Germany. There they 
met him, on the plains near Leipsic, and, in a three-days' 



284 SWISS NEUTRALITY. [1814- 

battle, smote him with the sword of their wrath (16, 18, 
19 Oct., 1818). He fled across the Rhine. But they fol- 
lowed closely. 

When the allied armies of the emperors and kings ap- 
proached the Rhine and the frontiers of Switzerland, the 
Confederates thought of their obligations to the mediator, 
but also of the sufferings and afiflictions of the nations un- 
der his sceptre. And they said : " Let us remain neutral 
in this strife of the kings, as we have always promised." 
Thus decided the cantons in their Diet at Zurich, and their 
banners marched to protect the territory of Switzerland on 
the border along the Rhine. 



CHAPTER LXIII. 

THE SWISS ANNUL NAPOLEOn's " ACT OF MEDIATION," AND DIVIDE, 

UNTIL FOREIGN POWERS ONCE MORE PUT AN END TO THEIR 

DIVISION BY FOUNDING A NEW CONFEDERACY OF TWENTY-TWO 

CANTONS. 

[A. D. 1814 and 1816.] 

When the throne of the great Napoleon sank under 
the victorious blows of the allied kings, the wise among 
the Confederates said : *' Now the day has come to secure 
anew the honor and independence of our fatherland. While 
our young men, fighting on the frontier, conquer or die for 
the inviolability of Swiss soil, let our deputies, assembled 
at Zurich, lay the foundation of a new confederacy, a work 
of patriotic wisdom, suited to the requirements of the age. 
Then, but not till then, will we annul Napoleon's ' Act of 
mediation,' the monument of our former division and weak- 
ness." 

So said they. Not so, many members of the principal 
families in the before-ruling cities. These wished to intro- 
duce foreign troops into Switzerland, and, under their pro- 
tection and the consequent terror, to reestablish a Confed- 
eracy of thirteen cantons, with domination and servitude, 
such as came to a bloody end in 1798. 



-1815.] INTRIGUES OF THE NOBLES. 

There were rumors of secret intrigues and negotiations 
at Waldshut, on the part of some members of the noble 
families of Berne and Grisons with foreign generals. Then, 
suddenly, almost immediately after the promulgation of 
the solemn declaration of Swiss neutrality by the Diet, ap- 
peared an order for the widely extended troops to retire 
from along the Khine. And the Austrian battalions, horse 
and foot, troop after troop, with drums beating, passed the 
Khine (21 Dec, 1813), through B^le, Aargau, Solothurn, 
Berne and other districts, into the territory of France. The 
people looked on with astonishment and indignation. The 
Confederate troops were at a distance ; most of them full 
of shame, sorrow and anger. This long passage of for- 
eigners brought fevers and contagious diseases. Many a 
happy home was thus made desolate. 

But the city of Berne, when she saw the numbers of the 
German troops, declared that Napoleon's " Act of mediation" 
was annulled and all the dominion and authority she had 
before possessed over the country reestablished. The peo- 
ple, overawed, and in the belief that this was an order of 
the German conquerors whose banners they saw in their 
villages and on the highways, were silent in anxious sus- 
pense. The cities of Solothurn and Freiburg followed 
Berne's example; as shortly did Lucerne. The Diet at 
Zurich likewise annulled Napoleon's ''Act of mediation," in 
virtue of which it was assembled, and laid the foundation 
of a new compact of the nineteen Confederate states (29 
Dec). 

It was not this, but a reestablishment of the Confederacy 
of the old thirteen cantons, with the restoration of former 
privileges and former servitude, that the chiefs and leaders 
of the disturbance desired. Therefore they stirred up the 
original mountain-cantons. Therefore the cantons of Vaud 
and Aargau had been arrogantly summoned in the Bernese 
declaration (24 Dec.) to submit anew to their formerly 
sovereign city. 

Thus the whole Confederacy was once more falling to 
pieces by internal dissensions, while the allied emperors 
and kings entered Paris, banished the defeated Napoleon 
.to the island of Elba, and sealed Louis XVIIL, as king of 



286 QUARRELS AND CONFLICTS. [l8U- 

France, on the throne of his fathers. The Diet, in which 
deputies from the nineteen cantons were newly assembled 
at Zurich (6th April, 1814), was the sole weak tie which 
prevented the entire separation of the cantons. Distrust 
and enmity prevailed; demands for the annihilation or 
dismemberment of parts of the Confederacy which had 
been self-governing and free for sixteen years. Zug de- 
manded from Aargau a portion of the former free-baili- 
wicks; Uri, the Leventina from the canton of Ticino; 
Glarus, the district of Sargans from the canton of St. Gral- 
len ; the former prince-abbot Pancratius, his ancient ter- 
ritories and sovereignties in Thurgau and St. Gallen ; 
Schwyz and Glarus united, the territory of Uznach, Gaster 
and Wesen, as well as compensation for numerous ancient 
rights; Unterwalden Uri and Schwyz united, a similar 
compensation for the sovereign rights they had possessed 
in Aargau, Thurgau, St. Gallen and Ticino. Others made 
other demands. 

In Grisons, one party insisted that Khetia should be de- 
tached from the Confederacy; another marched with some 
hundreds of armed men across the mountain to reconquer 
Chiavenna and Valtelina (4th May), but were driven back 
by three thousand Austrians. 

During these storms, Zurich, Bale and Schaffhausen 
distinguished themselves by their impartiality ; Yaud and 
Aargau, by the enthusiastic energy of their people, showed 
themselves strong and worthy of their acquired free- 
dom. In the districts and cities of Bale, Zurich and Solo- 
thurn, the friends of liberty held themselves ready to fol- 
low the banners of Aargau. Here, twelve thousand well- 
disciplined troops were prepared to march at the first sig- 
nal, and as many in Yaud. But Berne feared an open 
feud; she offered to recognise the independence of Vaud 
on certain conditions. These Yaud refused (24th July). 
Aargau armed more threateningly. There were danger- 
ous fermentations in Bernese Oberland (August). 

Party -jealousy and suspicion gained strength day by day, 
especially after men began to discuss the future rights of 
the people and the future limits of the governing power. 
There were reports of partial risings^ of conspiracies, of ar- 



,-vte 



-ISlo.'l THE CoKCllESS OF VIEKNA. 28* 

rests and banishments at Lucerne, Freiburg and Solotburn. 
The citj^ of Solotburn called for a Bernese garrison to pro- 
tect her from her own people. Confederate troops were 
obliged to hasten over the high Alps to the banks of the 
Ticino, in order to prevent a murderous civil war (Sep- 
tember) ; others to the canton of St. Gallen to put an end 
to revolt and dangerous anarch}^ : for here the abbot Pan- 
cratius was doing all in his power to excite his partisans. 
On the other hand, Schwyz did the same to take Sargans 
and Uznach. Many districts insisted on their right to gen- 
eral assemblies. 

While Switzerland was thus for a long time the prey to 
constantly increasing disturbances, while blood already 
flowed in many cantons and arrests filled the prisons of 
most of the cities, the plenipotentiaries of nearly all the 
great empires of Europe were assembled at. Vienna, the 
capital cit}^ of the emperor of Austria, to fix on solid bases 
the future peace of the world. The allied conquerors of 
France had already assented that the republic of Geneva 
should enter the confederate compact as a self-governing 
canton; as well as Neuchatel, the principality under Prus- 
sian sovereignty, and Valais. (On the 12th of September, 
these three cantons, at their own request, were admitted by 
the Diet into the Swiss Confederacy.) But now, when the 
kings and their plenipotentiaries at Vienna saw the inter- 
minable quarrels of the Confederates, which time, instead 
of soothing, embittered, they determined to mediate and to 
put an end to all disputes by their decision. For this pur- 
pose, the deputies of the Confederates went willingly to the 
imperial city on the Danube, as, eleven years before, to 
Paris. 

There, after long consideration of all disputes and griev- 
ances, the declaration of the allied powers and their deci- 
sive arbitration were finally made (20th March, 1815). 
They recognised the act of confederation, to which the 
majority of the cantons had acceded on the 9th Septem- 
ber, 1814, and the integral existence of the nineteen can- 
tons, as well as their increase to the number of twenty -two 
by the addition of Geneva, Neuchatel and Valais. To the 
canton of Vaud was restored Dappenthal, which France 



288 BASIS OF THE NEW COMPACT. [1814- 

had taken from her ; to the canton of Berne, as indemnity, 
were assigned Bienne and the bishopric of Bale, except- 
ing some small portions which were incorporated with 
Neuchatel and Bale; to the abbot Pancratius and his offi- 
cers, a pension of 8000 florins; to the cantons of Uri, 
Schwjz, Unterwalden, Zug, Glarus and the Inner-rhodes 
of Appenzell, for their former rights, a compensation of 
half a million of francs from the cantons of Aargau, Vaud 
and St. Grallen. 

The settlement of the Helvetian state-debt of more than 
3,500,000 francs, of the claims of those Bernese who had 
signioral rights in Yaud, and of many other matters, was 
likewise finally determined. Only the complaints of the 
republic of Grisons remained unheard. For Chiavenna, 
Valtelina and Bormio, now annexed to Austria, were not 
restored to them; nor till 1833 was any compensation 
made to those whose lawful property and possessions in 
Yaltelina had, years before, been unjustly seized and con- 
fiscated by the revolted subjects of the republic. 

After the Confederates, through their Diet (27th May), 
had solemnly assented to this declaration and settlement, 
which was signed by the plenipotentiaries of the crowns 
of Austria, Spain, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, 
Kussia and Sweden, these powers, in like manner, declared 
their recognition and guaranty of the neutrality and invi- 
olability of Switzerland in all future wars of the princes. 

Thus the intervention of the united monarchs of Europe 
generously put an end to the unworthy disputes of the 
Confederates ; and this is the basis of the compact of the 
twenty-two confederated republics among the mountains 
of the Alps and the Jura. 



^fl6.1 THE HOLY ALLUNCB. 289 



CHAPTER LXIY. 

RENEWED LOSS OF LIBERTY, AND WEAKNESS OF THE SWISS. 

[A.D. 1815 to 1829.] 

The small communities in the high Alps, without in- 
struction, without commerce, with few wants and resources, 
taking little interest in their own affairs and less in their 
neighbors', fell back into the position to which their fathers 
had been so long accustomed. They peacefully fed their 
flocks upon the mountains, gave their votes every year in 
general assembly for magistrates and laws, and left other 
matters to the good pleasure of their spiritual and tempo- 
ral lords. 

But in the districts from the base of the Alps to the 
Jura, where greater intercourse and comfort, commerce and 
industry prevailed, far other wants had been developed. 
Here, many regretted the loss of important popular rights 
which had been annihilated or diminished by treachery or 
craft, or threats of violence, to the advantage of grasping 
cities or families. They were compelled to submit to poli- 
tical institutions imposed on an unwilling people by arbi- 
trary officers. That they might not fall from one evil into 
a greater, they thought it most prudent to be silent. They 
feared to irritate by opposition the powerful sovereigns 
who, after the conquest of France, had formed a "holy 
alliance" among themselves and given the law to the na- 
tions of Europe. What no one dared to claim as a right, 
each hoped to obtain from the wisdom or good feeling of 
the newly-appointed magistrates. The warning past was 
still near. But the men in power did not willingly cast a 
glance behind ; they looked only to the future and to the 
demands of their ambition, which they had strengthened 
in each other by the new compact, 

By this compact, which with equal solemnity guaranteed 
the existence of twenty-two cantons and of fifty-nine mon- 
asteries and nunneries, the dignity and power of all Switz- 
erland was once more made subordinate to the individual 
13 2a 



290 MILITARY SCHOOL AT THUN. [iblS- 

cantODS. The letter of the agreement, vague and elastic 
throughout, was a most commodious instrument to foster 
the spirit of cantonalism. Although it was declared to be 
a fundamental principle that no subject-district should 
exist in the Confederate states, the fact still remained in a 
milder form almost everywhere, in spite of the abolished 
name. Even the subject-country of the prince of Neucha- 
tel was received into the number of cantons, as equal in 
dignities and rights. And the inhabitants of Reichenburg 
in Schwyz were allowed to fall again under the sovereignty 
of the convent of Einsiedeln without any protest on the 
part of the state-governments. 

Thus from the bloody grave of 1798 the spectre of the 
old Confederacy came back upon the land of the freed 
Swiss, and gradually brought in its train all the evils by 
which the ancient union of the states had been destroyed. 
The Diets again presented the spectacle of vain pomp and 
fruitless dispute. The deputies brought to them irreconcila- 
ble instructions and obstinate reservations. For the glory 
or prosperity of the common Confederacy the individual 
cantons wanted strength, the whole wanted unity. The 
establishment of the military school at Thun (1818) is the 
only memorial of a federal spirit which once more shone 
brightly in the first years, and then became extinct. There 
were indeed long and frequent discussions and disputes 
respecting uniformity of currency, freedom of trade, unre- 
strained establishment of the Swiss in every part of their 
Swiss fatherland, and many other desirable matters ; but 
nothing was done. The complicated tolls, so injurious to 
the country, remained unabolished ; thousands of heimath- 
losen, the disgrace of the Confederacy, homeless. 

Though the chiefs of these small republics quarrelled 
bitterly with each other when any sacrifice was to be made 
for the benefit of the whole nation, yet they were subser- 
viently docile to the hints of foreign courts, whenever any 
advantage was to be gained for themselves or their fami- 
lies. Mercenary troops were willingly hired out to the 
kings of France (1816), of the Netherlands (1818) and of 
Naples (1829) to defend them against their own people; 
but an asylum was refused to those unfortunates who were 



-1829.J POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 291 

persecuted and driven from tlieir homes for political 
causes. When the holy father at Eome, by his own authority, 
separated a large portion of catholic Switzerland from its 
original connection with the bishopric of Constance (1815), 
fourteen full years were lost in attempts to found a new 
national bishopric. Then, when all hopes of an under- 
standing were at an end, fatigned with the interminable 
disputes, some cantons joined the diocese of Coire ; others 
the bishopric of Bale (1828), the seat of which was estab- 
lished in the city of Solothurn. When the kingly mem- 
bers of the '' holy alliance" demanded a restriction on the 
liberty of the press, the governments, with unseemly con- 
descension, hastened to perform the grateful task. Laws 
and ordinances immediately trammelled and hindered the 
public interchange of ideas. Judges were appointed 
under the name of censors to determine what truths should 
be concealed from the people, what errors should be elu- 
cidated. The information of the public was charged wdth 
heavy taxes as a superfluous luxury, and the diffusion and 
circulation of journals burdened with stamp-duties. Ya- 
lais and Freiburg opened to the Jesuits, not only their ter- 
ritory, but the schools of their youth. The ecclesiastical 
power raised itself again with new strength by the side of 
the civil, to protect it, or, according to circumstances, to 
brave it. 

The lies of a cheat, Clara Wendell, and her band, re- 
specting the death of avoyer Keller of Lucerne in the 
Reuss (1816) occupied for several years the attention of the 
Confederacy, and disclosed the imperfections of the Swiss 
administration of justice in many cantons. When a suc- 
cession of rainy years produced a scarcity and dearness of 
produce, and thousands fell sick from unwholesome food, 
or died of hunger (1817), the governments increased the 
evils of the time by embargoes between canton and canton, 
or by prohibiting the export of provisions. Division, dis- 
putes and discord prevailed everywhere. No Confederacy 
was perceptible, but only cantons, united by concordats, 
or separated by reprisals. 

In the seats of some of the state-governments magnani- 
mous m'^Ti, full of intelUgence, of love for their country 



292 FAMILISM AND FAVORITISM. [l815- 

and for popular liberty, were not wanting. But the good 
seed which they sowed was choked by the tares which the 
federal compact and the vicious constitutions of the can- 
tons unrestrainedly fostered. 

For the unmeasured power which that compact gave to 
the cantons at the expense of the Confederacy, had for the 
most part fallen into the hands of a few men, who ruled 
the country. The feeling of their unlimited authority by 
degrees produced domineering pride ; irresponsibility pro- 
duced arbitrary government; long-continued office pro- 
duced familism and favoritism. Not only the tribunals 
of the country but even the representatives of the people 
in the great-councils became subject to their influence. 
The old aristocracies again raised their heads, without the 
prestige of ancient recollections, but covered with demo- 
cratic tinsel. This soon fell away. The citizens of the 
country, seeing the titled display and pomp of their gover- 
nors, submitted more and more unwillingly to the burden 
of taxes, of military and road-service; to the impositions 
on the poor in favor of the rich ; to favoritism ; to waste- 
ful mismanagement of the public property ; to malprac- 
tices in office, against which they had seldom the privilege 
of complaint. 

The small republics, travelling in different directions, 
separated more and more. But the mind and heart of the 
people remained constant to one desire : that the slavery 
and impotence of Switzerland should cease. This spirit 
showed itself whenever the people met in philanthropic or 
scientific societies in the various cantons. This was the 
case in the yearly assemblages (after 1819) of Swiss stu- 
dents at Zofingen ; in those of the young men who every 
year (from 1822) met upon one of the glorious fields of the 
old battles for freedom ; in the federal shooting-matches, 
and especially in the Helvetian society, active as in the 
memorable days of its first organization. The public 
prints, although reviled, prosecuted, restricted and forbid- 
den to exist, spoke more boldly and were read with more 
avidity by the people. Some voices, single at first, but 
soon more numerous, were raised in the great-councils 
themselves for the restraint of the governing power within 
legal limits. 



-1829.] dflAflLES 1. OF* FRA.^dEJ. 29d 

In free republics, the chiefs have no power which does 
not proceed from the confidence of the people, and no bay- 
onets can protect their dignities but the bayonets of the 
people. For fifteen years did the Swiss suffer the evil con- 
sequences of 1815. First on the banks of the Ticino did 
the people, exasperated by the squandering of the public 
property and by the venality of their magistrates, demand 
and commence a reform of their constitution (1829). The 
legislative assembly of Yaud, which had already (1825) 
been vainly entreated thereto by its most distinguished 
members, soon followed in the same course, as did that of 
Lucerne, compelled by the common necessity. The great 
council of Zurich, by a freer admission to its privileges, 
hoped to put a stop to more serious complaints. 



CHAPTER LXV. 

THIRTEEN CANTONS RECOVER THEIR LIBERTY. TROUBLES IN 
SCHWYZ, NEUCHATEL AND BALE. 

[A. D. 1880 to 1832.] 

The majority of the Swiss people would gladly have 
followed the example. But many of the governments pre- 
ferred the exercise of arbitrary power under the protection 
of the " holy alliance." They thought themselves more pow- 
erful in their reliance on foreign forces than in the strength 
and favor of free citizens. 

Then a most unexpected occurrence took place. A 
member of the " holy alliance," king Charles X. of France, 
broke his royal oath to his people. After three days of 
bloody fighting in the streets and squares of Paris (July, 
1830), he was compelled to flee into exile from the king- 
dom of his fathers. Soon Belgium, soon Poland rose 
against their princes. Italy and Germany were full of dis- 
turbances. Thus the strength of the *' holy alliance" was 
broken. 

Delivered now from the fear of foreign power, the Swiss 

2a* 



294 BETERMil^ATlON 0$^ THE PEOI^LE. ft'830- 

people determined to recover their rights, the loss of'^which 
they had so long moarned. It is easier to extirpate a no- 
ble nation from the face of the earth than to extinguish in 
their breasts the love of freedom and manly dignity. In 
the days of autumn the citizens, first in small numbers, then 
by assemblages of thousands and thousands, in the cantons 
of Aargau, Thurgau, Bale, Zurich, St. Gallen, Yaud, Lu- 
cerne, Freiburg, Solothurn, Berne, Schaffhausen, even in 
Schwyz and the Outer-rhodes of Appenzell came with re- 
spectful petitions to the governments. They demanded the 
alteration of the illiberal constitutions of their countries to 
meet the wishes of the people, and by representatives of 
their own choice. 

The governments were filled with fear and turned anx- 
ious eves towards the foreio^n courts, whence no further 
help came. Therefore they yielded, willingly or unwill- 
ingly, to the loud and general demand ; here, with be- 
nevolent wisdom ; there, grudgingly, with timid hesitation. 
But crafty delays excited distrust; inimical reservations 
occasioned popular tumults at Frauenfeld, St. Gallen, Lau- 
sanne and Freiburg ; or armed outbreaks, as in the cantons 
of Aargau and Schaffhausen. But, in the midst of the 
revolutionary storm, property, persons and the dignity of 
the magistrates were respected. Neither did streams of 
blood or incendiary conflagrations, such as were seen in 
those times at Paris, Brussels, Brunswick, Warsaw, Mo- 
dena and other places, sully the regeneration of Swiss free- 
dom. 

Before the dawning of the last day of that eventful year, 
almost everywhere, constituent-councils, chosen by the 
people, or, as in Freiburg, Solothurn and Bale, the great- 
councils, were busily at work to satisfy the wishes of their 
country. 

Only in Berne, then the Yorort of the Confederacy, did 
the nobility of the city hesitate to surrender the privileges 
which they had succeeded in obtaining, sixteen years before, 
by revolutionary artifices and the assistance of foreign 
power. They still hoped for some salvation : either through 
the variance and feuds of the cantons with each other, or a 
war between neighboring nations, or their interference in 



-1832.] ACTION OF THE DIET. 295 

the affairs of Switzerland, or, as is always the case with 
despairing obstinacy, through some miracle of chance. In 
fact, Austrian troops were then assembling, with threaten- 
ing aspect, along the frontiers of the Confederacy, in Vor- 
arlberg, Tyrol and Italy. 

To secure peace within and safety without, and perhaps, 
also, for its own protection, the Vorort called a Diet at 
Berne. But the Diet decreed : " Each canton shall be free 
to form its own constitution. Sixty or seventy thousand 
men shall be held readj^forthe defence of the Confederacy, 
in case of war." It declared to foreign powers its intention 
to remain neutral in all their wars. Thus did the Diet. 
The nation, electrified, prepared soldiers and arms (Grisons, 
alone, ten thousand men), more than were required. Those 
who were exempt from service wished to volunteer. But 
afterwards, when the foreign courts gave to the Confede- 
racy renewed assurances of peace and friendship, the noble 
families of Berne perceived with despair that their empire 
was at an end ; and when the burghers of the city refused 
to admit within their walls mercenary soldiers to act against 
the people, the patricians submitted to their fate with some 
show of dignity. A constituent-council, demanded by the 
country with increasing vehemence, was assembled. 

To those who had for years been acustomed to domina- 
tion or servility, or who, secretly honoring in their hearts 
the dignity of a free people, had betrayed it by unworthy 
cowardice, nothing now remained but to decry the awak- 
ening of the nation with unrestrained though powerless 
malignity. In taverns, council-halls, churches, pamphlets 
and gazettes, they relieved their oppressed hearts by con- 
tumely and curses. Many who had before been the strong- 
est opponents of the government became now its warmest 
apologists. Had a God listened to the prayers of their in- 
sanity, disturbance, bloody revenge and civil war would 
have overwhelmed the Confederacy. But they blew only 
the flames of their party-rage, which blinded their own 
eyes. The Swiss people went forward in their work with 
dignified calmness and determination. Their earnest will 
secured its own fulfilment. 

In the beginning of the summer (1831) the free consti- 



296 THE) OLD P'REE LAND. [iSSO- 

tutions were accepted bj the people in most of the cantons, 
and put in operation. The same love of freedom, though 
with varying requirements, had based them all on the 
same principles: the sovereignty of the united people; 
equal political rights and duties for every citizen ; more 
decided separation and independence of the legislative, 
executive and judicial functions; shorter terms of office; 
protection of private property against official power; free- 
dom of the press, &c. 

Thus the cantons of Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, Freiburg, 
Solothurn, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Aargau, Thurgau, 
Ticino and Yaud determined the rights of the people and 
the jurisdiction of the country, in a legal manner, without 
unreasonable disturbance of before-existing ordinances. 
Governments and magistrates, councils and judges acted 
under the old constitutions until the new received force 
and validity. 

But not so peacefully was the formation of a better con- 
stitution accomplished in Schwyz. For the chiefs of the 
scant population of the before-ruling Inner district, or old 
free-land, so called, refused equal rights to the inhabitants 
of the Outer districts. And yet these had once been prom- 
ised to them in the days of trouble and war (1798) shortly 
previous to the fall of the old Confederacy. But, since 
1815, the superannuated privileges of the old free-land 
had been craftily and insensibly resuscitated under prom- 
ises of a reform in the constitution which had never been 
fulfilled. Even in the old free-land itself, all the citizens 
had not equal rights and duties ; but those who were called 
" new folk," though their ancestors had dwelt there for 
centuries, were inferior in privileges. At last, when nei- 
ther earnest petitions for infringed rights, nor negotiations, 
nor the offered mediation of the Confederacy had produced 
any result, the Outer districts, March, Einsiedeln, Kuss- 
nacht and Pfeffikon, determined to form a separate free 
commonwealth under another constitution (6th May, 1832). 
Thus this little canton was for a while divided into two 
parts, not without reciprocal animosity, but without the 
evil of bloody strife. The soils of Neiichatel and Bale, 
only, were thus stained at that period. 



-1832.] FREDERICK WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA. 297 

Early in 1831, the paternal prince of Neucliatel, Fred- 
erick William, king of Prussia, sent a plenipotentiary to 
consult the wishes of the people, and graciously relieved a 
portion of the burdens which occasioned complaint on the 
part of the communes. No one then wished to withdraw 
from under his sceptre. But, shortly after the return of 
the plenipotentiary to his king, voices were raised demand- 
ing : " That the principality be made a republic, like the 
other cantons of Switzerland." Many who were not in- 
clined to revolt thought this object worthy of every sac- 
rifice. But some hundreds of inconsiderate men assembled 
in arms, surprised and seized the castle of Neuchatel (12th 
Sept., 1831). They were driven out by the appearance of 
the Confederate troops, whose assistance the government 
had called for in its need (27th Sept.). For according to 
the compact, the constitution of the canton could not be 
changed by force, nor without the consent of the prince 
and of a majority of the citizens. After the castle was re- 
stored to the authorities, and an amnesty promised to the 
rebels, the Confederate troops returned to their homes. 

Their ill-success did not discourage the malcontents. 
Once again, but in smaller numbers, they raised the stand- 
ard of revolt (27th Dec). But they were dispersed by 
the unaided troops of the government, after bloody com- 
bats. Those who saved their lives by flight were punished 
by banishment. The captives expiated their attempt in 
unhealthy prisons, or by money, or confinement in foreign 
fortresses, or in other ways. Even the innocent, on bare 
suspicion, were given up to the maltreatment of their per- 
secutors. The power and tribunals of a cautious govern- 
ment seemed for a while subservient to the rage of a vic- 
torious party. 

At the same period the canton of Bale was the theatre 
of a much more fearful civil war. Here a majority of the 
country-communes respectfully petitioned for the restora- 
tion of privileges once guaranteed by the capital-city her- 
self, and with this view requested the calling of a constit- 
uent-council to be chosen by the people. This request, and 
their continued persistence in it, wounded and embittered 
the pride md prejudices of the city. The great-council, 
13* 



298 ATTACK ON LIESTAL. [l830- 

composed principally of burghers, on its own authority, 
drew up a constitution in which the privileges enjoyed by 
the city since 1815 were preserved to her. Thereupon 
many members from the country-communes, who had like- 
wise been grievously insulted, left the council-hall. They 
had in vain demanded the restoration of that equality in 
political rights and duties which was guaranteed to them 
in 1798. When men in power exhibit a want of good 
faith, a pernicious example is presented to the oppressed. 
Dissatisfaction and indignation on the part of the country 
followed, contempt and threats on that of the city ; then 
arming on both sides. Liberty-trees were planted in the 
villages. A provisional government for the country was 
established at Liestal. But the angry authorities sent 
troops from the city-gates ; after small skirmishes of many 
days (middle of January, 1831) the rebels were dispersed, 
the liberty-trees cut down, the revolutionary government 
broken up. The prisoners, bound with ropes, like vile 
criminals, were led through the streets of Bale and ex- 
posed to the insults of the populace. Then, under the first 
influence of terror, the new constitution was presented to 
the communes, accepted by a doubtful vote, proclaimed, 
and the severest sentences passed upon the prisoners and 
fugitives. In vain did the other Confederates recommend 
wise moderation and a general amnesty. In vain were 
thousands of supplicating voices raised from the humbled 
country-communes. Bale, in the feeling of her right, or 
of her power, forgot that, in civil disturbances, the sword 
of severe justice heals no wounds, but may deepen them. 

The inflexible harshness of Bale against her fellow- 
citizens in the country-districts, who asked only for what 
had once been promised to them, and what was already 
granted in other cantons, occasioned a great excitement 
against the city among the people of the other cantons, 
still under the influence of the first effervescence of liberty. 
Soon, in the cantons of Aargau, Berne, Solothurn, Zurich, 
Thurgau and Appenzell, armed multitudes were prepared 
to defend and avenge the country-districts. The capital- 
city hastily erected new fortifications and strengthened her 
garrison with mercenary troops. With the feeling of in- 



-1832.] EXPULSION OF THE COMMUNES. 299 

creased security, insulting contempt increased. To pro- 
test against injustice, the citizens acted with injustice. 
They provoked, mortified and insulted the- people from the 
country, when they came peacefully to the city for pur- 
poses of trade or industry ; they violated the secrecy of 
the post ; on bare suspicion, they maltreated citizens and 
strangers in the streets and houses. Thus they wantonly 
drove the country-people into open opposition. Parties 
for and against Bale were formed in every village ; law- 
less disturbance and insecurity prevailed everywhere. 

To restore order and submission by the terror of their 
arms, the troops of the city once more (21st Aug., 1831) 
marched with heavy artillery against the little city of 
Liestal, the centre of the rebellious districts. But, from 
hills and valleys, forth rushed the iandsturm of all the 
people, inflamed with love of freedom and a thirst for ven- 
geance, and, despising wounds and death, drove the trained 
troops back to the gates of their city, after a long and ob- 
stinate fight. This bloody action of Bale broke the last 
bond between city and country. 

A cry of astonishment and indignation resounded 
through all Switzerland. The Diet, to preserve peace, 
sent troops into the canton to protect the. oppressed coun- 
try-people. A majority of the confederated cantons with- 
drew their unconditional guarantee from a constitution 
stained with the blood of so many citizens and loaded 
with the curses of the country. Bale, on the other hand, 
irritated by this withdrawal and the defeat she had expe- 
rienced, stigmatized the Confederacy as faithless and for- 
sworn; expelled from her republic (22 February, 1832) 
forty-five of the rebellious communes, although the Vo- 
rort, in the name of the Confederacy, protested against 
this unexampled proceeding ; and, as soon as the Confed- 
erate garrisons had retired, once again sent hired soldiers 
into the country by night, either in the hope of avenging 
her defeat near Liestal, or, as she asserted, to protect the 
still faithful communes. By a circuit over foreign terri- 
tory, in the depth of the darkness, the mercenary troops 
reached Gelterkinden (6 April, 1832). Suddenly the 
landsturij] surrpujaded them with all its horrors: battle, 



800 BALE-CITY AND BALE-COUNTRY. [1832- 

death and fire. The soldiers, after a coarageoiis "but use- 
less defence, fled again over the borders, dispersed and 
harassed, leaving many behind. The news of this clan- 
destine attempt roused afresh the indignation of the neigh- 
boring cantons against Bale. The defeat of the merce- 
naries alone calmed the excitement. The Diet intervened 
once more. But Bale, entrenched behind her walls and 
ramparts, was saddened, not humbled, by her double mis- 
fortune. She closed her gates against the troops of the 
Confederacy, when they presented themselves for the 
maintenance of peace; she refused the mediation of the 
commissioners whom the Diet sent to Zofingen to settle 
the differences between city and country. Then the Con- 
federates, assembled at Lucerne, finally persuaded of the 
inflexible obstinacy and pride of the burghers of Bale, 
determined on the division of the canton into Bale-city 
and Bale-country. To Bale-city belonged Bale herself 
and sixteen villages which had remained faithful to her in 
different parts of the country. But Bale-country, with 
fifty-three communes, under its own separate constitution, 
was admitted into the protection and compact of the Con- 
federates ; then both sections were commanded to keep the 
peace, and the troops were once more withdrawn. 



CHAPTER LXYI. 

THB LEAGUE OF SARNEN. FIVE HUNDRED POLES ENTER SWITZER- 
LAND FROM FRANCE. 

[A D. 1882 to 1888.] 

The rich frontier-city, in her unappeasable resentment, 
which so many reverses had not extinguished but rather 
inflamed, seemed prepared to adopt the most violent 
measures, even the dissolution of the Confederacy or her 
own withdrawal from it. The rest of the cantons, on the 
other hand, in their timid prudence, hesitated to execute 
jenergetically the decrees of the Diet, because they feared 



.18SS.J WE hinmAh dAKTONS. ^^^^<^^^. '^^1? O 

a rupture of tlie whole Confederacy, a general civil war 
and the armed interference of foreign powers. These and 
other considerations encouraged the enemies of popular 
freedom everywhere to new and more audacious hopes. 
In order to spread their opinions among the multitude 
they made use of pulpits and schools, pamphlets and lam- 
poons, newspapers and caricatures, confessionals and work- 
shops, in which they disparaged the new political system. 
But the friends of their country's freedom combatted them 
with equal bitterness and similar measures ; formed defen- 
sive unions and held public meetings. So great were the 
discord and party -animosity, that nothing was honored, 
no names were respected ; even the holy bonds of blood 
and the oldest friendships were broken. 

The old democratic cantons at the foot or in the valleys 
of the Alps either looked upon these quarrels of the 
others with indifference, or, persuaded by their ecclesias- 
tical and civil lords, were inclined to favor Bale, the pa- 
tricians, and other enemies of political equality. Most of 
them were so far influenced as to refuse or withhold their 
Confederate guarantee to the new constitutions in Switzer- 
land. Such a disposition, which certainly bore the ap- 
pearance of hostility, wounded the people of the other 
cantons. Seven of these, Zilrich, Berne, Lucerne, Solo- 
thurn, St. Gallen, Aargau and Thurgau, therefore met 
together by their deputies in the spring of 1832. They 
formed an agreement or covenant by which they mutually 
guaranteed the maintenance of their free constitutions. 
This covenant, which embraced a majority of all the peo- 
ple of Switzerland and secured their rights, defeated but 
did not destroy the plans of their opponents. 

In Berne, the violent patrician leaders secretly prepared 
stores of arms, collected 20,000 cartridges in concealed 
places, and clandestinely enlisted soldiers, principally mer- 
cenaries discharged from the French service, or people 
without bread and conscience, ready for any undertaking. 
The conspiracy was to break out at any favorable moment, 
even in blood and flames. But it was betrayed by the 
imprudence or drunkenness of some of the hired vagabonds 
(August, 1832). The ringleaders fled ; other accomplices 

29 



802 NULLIFICATION-. [l832. 

in the criminal design were arrested. Thereupon tlie 
country-communes, for their safety and the protection of 
their freedom, were armed and supplied with heavy ariil- 
lery. These events opened the eyes of all the people to 
the revengeful ambition of their former masters, desirous 
to recover their privileges at whatever cost. Tlie formerly 
honorable, but in the lapse of time self-corrupted, Bernese 
aristocracy had set the seal of ignominy upon its impotence. 

In the mean while the government and burghers of 
Bale had conceived a grander but not less inimical pro- 
ject. They formed a closer alliance with the chiefs of 
Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Neuchatel and Yalais. These, 
as well as Bale, had solemnly objected to and protested 
against the covenant of the seven great cantons to guar- 
antee their constitutions. In consequence of the loud 
demand which had long been heard throughout the Con- 
federacy for the remodelling of the compact of 1815, as 
unsuited to the constitutions of most of the cantons and 
the requirements of a confederated state. Bale invited 
those cantons which were friendly to her to assemble for 
the purpose of adopting important measures in concert. 
All, except Yalais, prevented by internal differences, ap- 
peared on the appointed day (14 November, 1832) at 
Sarnen in Obwalden. There they unanimously resolved : 
" To hold fast by the compact of 1815, unaltered ; conse- 
quently, not 10 recognise Bale-country or the Outer-dis- 
tricts of Schwyz, as separate commonwealths ; and, when 
deputies from these should be admitted into a Diet, to 
send no representatives." 

When the Diet assembled at Zurich in March, 1833, 
to continue the discussion upon a project for a new federal 
compact which had been commenced at Lucerne, no rep- 
resentatives appeared from the cantons of the Sarnen- 
league. But they met at Schwyz as members of a distinct 
Confederacy ; they called the Diet an illegal assembly, and 
declared that Bale-city and Neuchatel, the cantons of Uri 
and Unterwalden with Schwyz Inner-district, though but 
a small minority, would not submit to the decrees of the 
Confederate majority. 

This bold measure, which, under pretext of literally ob- 



-1833.J THE POLISH STRUGGLE. 803 

serving the existing compact, virtually dissolved it, excited 
great indignation among the Confederate deputies assem- 
bled at Zurich, but no general determination to reduce the 
refractory members to obedience. Their attention seemed 
to be occupied by the importaut labor of remodelling the 
compact, as well as hj another matter. 

The superiority of the Eussian arms had overcome a for- 
midable insurrection and struggle f6r independence on the 
part of the Poles. Thousands of unfortunate but valiant 
Poles left their subjugated country covered with dead 
bodies and ruins, and wandered, flying the vengeance of 
Eussia, from land to land, seeking refuge. The people of 
Switzerland, full of wonder and commiseration, assisted the 
brave men who passed through their cities and villages on 
their way to France, where an asylum was promised to 
them. But, after a while, the Poles in France found them- 
selves disappointed in the expectations they had enter- 
tained from the hospitality of that country. Many of them, 
dissatisfied, went into Belgium ; many enlisted in Portu- 
gal under the standard of Don Pedro, who was contending 
with his brother for the throne of that kingdom, and, at 
last, about five hundred unexpectedly crossed the French 
frontier into the canton of Berne, to seek assistance from 
the Confederacy (early in April, 1833). But here their 
numbers caused the other cantons to refuse them entrance 
into their territory, while France forbade all return. In 
vain did the Poles appeal to the generosity of the Confed- 
erates ; in vain did Berne entreat her fellow-cantons not to 
leave upon her alone the burden of so expensive a hospi- 
tality. Most of the cantons, pleased with having escaped 
the lot of Berne, refused all assistance in this great diffi- 
culty. Some excused themselves on account of their great 
poverty ; some feared to increase the number of heimath- 
losen in their territory; others held these suddenly-ar- 
rived strangers to be accomplices in the German insurrection, 
which about that time broke forth at Frankfort on the Main ; 
while some even suspected Berne of having invited the 
Poles into the country to serve against her troublesome 
patricians, or against the neighboring cantons who were 
opposed to the reforms in Switzerland 



804: PROPOSED MEDIATION. [l88S 



CHAPTER LXVII. 

BREACH OF THE PEACE. PEACE RESTORED BY THE DIET. 

[A. D. 1888.] 

In the mean while the project of a new compact was 
completed. It was published and submitted to the people 
of Switzerland for their acceptance or rejection. In expec- 
tation of their action, the Diet opened its regular session at 
Zurich (1 July) with the customary solemnity. But at the 
same time the plenipotentiaries from the Sarnen-league met 
together at Schwyz. Never were union and a good under- 
standing between all the Confederates more desirable than 
on the day when they were to lay the foundation of their 
new compact, and never did the accomplishment of this 
desire seem more distant. At the instance of Grisons, the 
Confederates once more extended the hand of brotherhood 
to the refractory cantons, and proposed a friendly settle- 
ment of the differences between the Inner and Outer dis- 
tricts of Schwyz, as well as between Bale-city and Bale- 
country. The day of mediation was in fact agreed upon 
(5 August). All the cantons promised to send deputies; 
even the Confederates of the league. But the latter were 
not in earnest. 

Then, when the people of the canton of Lucerne, dis- 
turbed and terrified by the extravagance of the intemperate 
friends of freedom and that of the monks and priests, re- 
jected the proposed compact (7 July), all the enemies of 
the new order of things suddenly raised their heads with 
more audacious boldness. The former rulers of the people 
thought that the latter could be made as subservient as be- 
fore. Hence fresh hopes, fresh plans for the reestablish- 
ment of supremacy. No conciliation ! No compromise ! 
The edifice of liberty must be overwhelmed in ruin ! One 
vigorous blow would be enough. Messengers hastened 
hither and thither. There was secret arming in Schwyz, re- 
doubled activity in Bale. The day fixed for the assembling 
pf the great mediatin^-council vv^s already close at hand. 



1833.] SCnWYZ AND BALE OCCUPIED. 805 

On a summer's night (30-31st July), at the sounh of the 
tocsin, six hundred valiant men of Schwjz marched with 
heavy artillery and took Kussnacht, a village of the Outer- 
district, on the lake of the Waldstatten. They brought 
back prisoners, disregarded the admonition of Lucerne, and 
threatened to follow up their warlike expedition. But a 
thousand men hastened in arms from Lucerne to the bor- 
ders and stopped their further advance. On the 1st of 
August the Diet at Zurich were informed of this audacious 
breach of the peace. Their long-suffering patience was at 
an end. They ordered twenty battalions, under the lead 
of deputed plenipotentiaries and experienced generals, to 
occupy Schwyz; they deferred the assembling of the 
mediators, and issued an address to the nation respecting 
the malicious enterprise. A cry of indignation against 
Schwyz resounded through all the valleys. The Confe- 
derate troops hastened willingly to fulfil the orders of the 
highest authority of the country. 

Three days after this intelligence, came that of a mur- 
derous attack of the Balese upon the country-districts of 
the canton which had been declared free. With sixteen 
hundred men and twelve pieces of artillery, the citizens 
and garrison had marched by night (3d August) towards 
Muttenz. Then they had burned Pratteln, killed several 
defenceless persons, and, from skirmish to skirmish, taken 
the road to Liestal. But they soon found their defeat in 
the oak-wood of Oehrli, not far from Frenkendorf In 
small numbers and with a heroism worthy of the most glo- 
rious days of Swiss battles for freedom, the sons of the 
country here made a stand and met the soldiers of Bale 
with wounds and death. The disordered troops of the city 
wavered ; then gave way ; and quickly dispersed in wild 
flight through the wood. Breathing vengeance, the victo- 
rious country-men pursued; neither asking nor giving 
quarter. More than three hundred of the aggressors fell 
dead or wounded. The pride of Bale was broken. Fear 
and mourning filled the whole city. 

On the evening of this unhappy day, the Diet, informed 
of the breach of the peace but not of the issue of the com- 
bat, met at night and ordered the occupation of the canton 

2b* 



806 FIRMNESS A^D AtODERATlON. [iSSS- 

of Bale, city and country, by ten thousand soldiers. On 
the 4th day of August, the troops of the Confederacy were 
already in Schwyz; on the 10th they entered the gates 
of Bale. The league of Sarnen was dissolved ; the refrac- 
tory cantons enjoined to fulfil their duty by sending depu- 
ties to the Diet. Keuchatel alone hesitated ; ten thousand 
men started on their march towards her borders ; she hast- 
ened to obey. 

These energetic measures restored peace to Switzerland. 
The troops gained honor by their discipline ; the whole 
nation, by their enthusiasm for liberty and order. The mu- 
tinous aristocracy of the cities and principal families, with 
their ecclesiastical and civil followers, were awed by the 
majesty of the popular will, which manifested itself in a man- 
ner entirely different from the expectations of their blindness. 

The embassadors of Kussia, Austria, Prussia, Bavaria 
and Sardinia hurried to Zurich (^7th August), to intercede 
in favor of Bale, while the most violent of the political as- 
sociations demanded a court-martial on the authors and 
chief-leaders of the breaches of the peace, their degradation 
and execution. But the Confederate authorities, with wise 
firmness, resisted the solicitations of both parties. Justice 
and magnanimity honor and preserve republics as well as 
monarchies. In Schwyz, a reiinion took place between the 
old free-land and the outer districts under a common con- 
stitution (19th September); Bale, with some villages on the 
right bank of the Rhine, was definitively separated from the 
whole country (17th August) ; and a mediatorial tribunal 
at Aarau determined the allotment of the public property 
to each of the two commonwealths, into which this single 
canton, like Appenzell and Unterwalden, was now divided. 
When the share of each canton, as well as of the Confede- 
racy, in the expenses of occupation, was decided, and the 
troops had returned to their homes with thanks, the Diet 
was dissolved (16th October). 

Thus the Swiss, at this period, secured and preserved the 
freedom of their country by military energy and magnani- 
mity. Under the protection and power of the law quiet 
returned to all the districts of the Confederacy. But the 
freedom of a people must repose with open eyes : to slum- 
ber is to die. 



THE BITGLE-CALL. So? 



CHAPTER LXYIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

This is the history of past times ; a glimpse into the se- 
crets of the future. 

Neither the arrow of Tell nor the dagger of Camogaster 
broke the chains of Swiss bondage. Neither at St. Jac- 
ques nor on the Malserhaide was the independence of the 
Confederates secured. No, the combat for internal free- 
dom and external independence has lasted five hundred 
years. The men at Rutli and those under the maple-tree 
of Truns gave but the signal for the holy fight. 

For, after the innocent simplicity of Uri had been cor- 
rupted by the pride of the other Confederates, they no 
longer blushed to occupy the seats of the banished signiors 
and bailiffs, but preferred to have subjects and bond-ser- 
vants rather than free fellow-citizens. At Stanz, where 
blessed Nicholas von der Flue appeared to them, they gave 
to each other a guaranty of everlasting dominion over the 
people and against their struggles for freedom. And when 
Toggenburg wished to purchase her liberty they refused 
all offers. They desired liberty to hold subjects, not to 
grant freedom. Therefore they at last looked upon the 
virtues, enlightenment and increasing wealth of the people 
with more dread thauv upon open revolt. 

But the edifice which had been raised by the hand of 
base selfishness was to be destroyed by the same means. 
Soon the world saw with wonder that the Swiss despised 
and weakened the very foundations of their strength and 
glory : their perpetual bond, and union. The cantons for- 
got their first love, cherished enmity against each other 
and courted foreign powers. The heroes of freedom be- 
came slaves in the golden chains of princes. The frugal 
gons of the Alps, for hire and presents, sold the people's 
blood i unknown battle-fields, and their votes in council. 
The n nly spirit of the ancient leaders of the country was 
dwarf i to the timidity of aristocratic council-lords. The 



308 THE ENEMT*; 

government of the country Avas a state-secret to its own 
people. And when the governments were almost entirely 
separated from the people, the people separated from the 
governments. No empire ever yet perished through the 
virtues of its citizens. The old Confederacy fell into utter 
ruin. 

But God the Father watches with unabated tenderness 
over his children. And, as the fecundating rain comes forth 
from the tempestuous thunder-cloud, so from the world- 
storm came forth the freedom of the whole Swiss people. 
At this day we see, what was not the case before, in a 
space of nearly nine hundred square miles, between lakes 
Leman and Constance, two millions of men, divided into 
twenty-two commonwealths, all alike Confederates in free- 
dom. The strongest of the twenty-two republics of the 
Swiss Confederacy is doubtless weak and powerless against 
the princes of the earth ; but the smallest is invincible, in 
the compact of all, so long as each Confederate fears less a 
second Grrandson, Morat and Frastenz than the craft and 
gold of a lord Zoppo or a bishop Schinner. 

Not from Germany, not from abroad comes the enemy 
before whom the Swiss heart should quail. The most 
formidable adversary of our freedom and independence, 
when he comes, will appear in our midst. But he must 
bear a mark by which every one may know him : It is he 
who prefers the honor of his own canton to the everlasting 
glory of the whole Confederacy ; his own personal or fam- 
ily advantage to the public good. It is he who would 
rend asunder the unity and grandeur of the Confederacy, 
and with the purple tatters of her divided majesty, bedeck 
the dwarfed proportions of cantonal self-sovereignty. It is 
he who trembles at a sword in the hand of a free people 
and not at the cajoleries and gifts of kings and their em- 
bassadors. It is he who says: "Eeduce the press to si- 
]emie and close the mouths of the teachers of youth ; put 
out your money at interest and expend it not in arms and 
warlike preparations ; shut the doors of the council-cham 
bers, so that the people may not hear our deliberations ; 
thus we may again be lords and masters, and subjects shall 
serve us 1" It is he who sows distrust between city and 



THE FATHERLAND. 809 

country, religious liate between catholics and protestants, 
who raises barriers between canton and canton, or encour- 
ages that cantonal selfishness, that family ambition, that 
pride of nobility, or any of those destructive discords by 
means of which the old Confederacy found a bloody end 
in spite of Neuenegg and Kothenthurm. 

But we have learnt : That right and justice are stronger 
than all might ; that the prosperity of each family is se- 
cure under the laws of freedom only ; and that the free- 
dom of each is guaranteed solely by the independence of 
the Swiss Confederacy. But the independence of the 
Swiss Confederacy is not based on imperial charters or 
royal promises ; it stands on an iron foundation : our 
swords. The true Swiss nobility must come from the 
churches and schools of the people. The real state-treas- 
ure must be found in the prosperity of all households. 
The great armory and arsenal of the Confederacy must 
exist in the chambers of her citizens. The deliberations 
of the councils and general assemblies must reach the ears 
of the whole Confederacy. So shall the holy cause of the 
fatherland be the holy cause of every cabin, and a godlike 
public spirit, like a celestial fire, consume all personal and 
cantonal selfishness. 

Neither the arrow of Tell nor the dagger of the Camo- 
gaster broke the chains of Swiss bondage. Neither at St. 
Jacques nor on the Malserhaide was the independence of 
the Swiss Confederacy secured. At Eutli and under the 
maple-tree of Truns only the signal for the holy fight was 
given. We must still fight, Confederates ! And you, our 
children, must still fight over our graves! Watch, there- 
fore, that you fall not into temptation ! Trust in God ! 
Confederates ! All for each, and each for all I 



(811 ) 



CONTINUATION 



OV THV 



HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND. 



BY EMIL ZSCHOKKE. 



CHAPTER LXIX 

EXPEDITION AGAINST SAVOY. OCCURRENCES AT STEINHOLZLEIN. 

[A. D. 1834.] 

Shortly after the internal storm had cleared away, the 
Confederacy became involved in a no less troublesome dis- 
pute with foreign nations. In consequence of the distur- 
bances of Europe, numerous refugees and exiles had, in 
those days, sought an asylum on Swiss soil. The sight of 
the popular freedom here enjoyed aroused in many of them 
a desire to behold the same in their own countries. In 
hopes to realize this desire, a secret league was formed 
among them. Unmindful of the hospitality they here re- 
ceived, they wished, from the Swiss republics, to cast the 
firebrand of revolution into the neighboring monarchies. 
Savoy, especially, was selected, because the people there 
seemed determined to get rid of their king. Such, at least, 
were the reports brought by the Italian refugees. The 



312 GENERAL ROMARINO. [l834 

Germans, believing wliat they said, joined them ; among 
those most willing, and most numerous, were the Poles, 
who still dwelt in Bernese Jura. Tired of long inactivitj^, 
they hoped, through the flames of a general war, to open 
for themselves a path back to their unhappy country. At 
the head of the undertaking was placed general Romarino, 
who had won for himself an honorable name in the Polish 
struggle for independence. 

Towards the end of January, 1884, the conspirators, 
singly, in order to escape the vigilance of the government, 
made their way towards the shores of lake Leman. Arms 
were secretly provided for them. But their purpose could 
no longer be concealed. Yaud and Geneva immediately 
called out troops to prevent the violation of foreign terri- 
tory. It was already too late. In the city of Geneva, 
some stragglers were indeed seized; but the mob, excited 
by the heroism of the Poles, impetuously rescued them. 
Thus they were enabled to continue their route, and to 
cross the frontiers of Savov near Carouge (1st Feb.). 
Although, but a few hundred strong, they expected that 
their little band w::a.a soon be swelled to an army by a 
general rising of the people. Several customhouse-officers 
were disarmed, and some public money confiscated. On 
all sides, printed addresses were distributed, proclaiming 
that the hour for casting off the tyrant's yoke had sounded. 
But the expected joyful welcome was wanting. The 
Savoyard peasants looked doubtfully upon the array of 
foreign invaders ; no foot entered their ranks, no hand was 
raised to help them. Soon came a report that the royal 
troops w^ere advancing by forced marches from Chambery. 
Then Romarino looked behind. Terrified he fled. His 
troops, believing themselves betraj^ed, hastened after him, 
without having seen an enemy. In two days, they were 
all back again in Geneva, where the Poles were disarmed 
and confined in the barracks of Chantepoulet. The rest 
returned, each to the place whence he had come. 

Where the fire still smoulders under the ashes, every 
breath of wind enkindles it afresh. The hatred between 
the Confederates was again awakened more furious than 
before^ when those who had been defeated in the previous 



1884] DIPLOMATIC KOTES. 813 

year, now raising their heads more boldly, attributed to 
their adversaries the guilt and shame of the invasion of 
Savoy. Some did not even hesitate to excite the anger of 
foreign powers against their own people. . " See," said 
they, " how Switzerland has become a rendezvous for all 
the disturbers of Europe ! Public authority is impotent 
to prevent the breach of the laws. The people are crazed 
by the excitement of continual insurrection. Unless 
foreign powers intervene, the security of neighboring 
states will be incessantly endangered." Such words found 
only too ready hearers in the monarchs and their council- 
lors. The aspect of the free self-sovereignty of the Swiss 
people, in the heart of Europe, had been unpleasant to their 
eyes. ISTow came the desired opportunity to suppress it. 
Sardinia first complained. Austria followed her. In the 
consciousness of overpowering strength, they imperiously 
demanded from the little republic the expulsion of all dis- 
turbers of the peace. Notes of similar purport soon made 
their appearance, in quick succession, from Wurtemberg, 
Baden, Bavaria, the German league, Prussia and Naples ; 
finally, even from distant Russia. The whole country was 
declared accountable to Europe for what a handful of 
foreign adventurers had attempted. Hereat indignation 
spread throughout all the cantons. Every one was willing 
to respect the law of nations, but never to bow to royal 
dictation. The vorort Zurich, with dignity, repelled this 
attack' on Swiss independence. With the assent of most 
of the cantons, she had already pronounced the guilty 
refugees unworthy of asylam. But this did not satisfy 
the foreign courts. A second and, shortly afterwards, a 
third shower of diplomatic notes, still more threatening, 
followed ; and already troops were in motion from East 
and North, towards the frontiers of Switzerland. A thick 
hedge of bayonets, in a great semicircle, interdicted trade 
and commerce, as in time of war. 

In the mean while, the citizen-king of France, then 
friendly to the free Confederates, had testified his willing- 
ness again to receive the Poles. They departed ; with 
them many of the other refugees. And as, at the same 
time, the Yorort gave to the foreign powers quieting assur- 
14 2c 



314 TfiE JOUKNEYMEN^S BANQUET. [l834 

ance for the future (24th June), the latter allowed the half- 
drawn sword to fall back into the scabbard. A general 
war, doubtful in its results, might easily have been kindled 
from this dispute. 

Throughout Switzerland, however, there was still great 
indignation at the pretensions of the foreign powers. In 
public meetings, the dismissal of those foreign embassadors 
who had shown their insolence too openly was loudly 
demanded. Even the last reply of the Yorort was stigma- 
tized by many as a cowardly retraction. The deputy from 
Berne, especially, opposed it in the Diet, and, when it was 
finally approved, protested solemnly against it ; with him 
was the deputy from Lucerne. Hereby they acquired 
great favor with a large portion of the people, and Berne 
was esteemed by these the " true Yorort," to whom they 
must look for the maintenance of the honor of the Swiss 
name. Some, on the other hand, feared evil results from 
her rashness, and Grisons proposed that a council of 
deputies should be associated with her in her next year's 
government of the Confederacy. The anger of the mon- 
archs, also, was now turned almost entirely against this 
largest and most unyielding of the cantons. This was 
especially the case when another circumstance provoked it 
afresh. About the end of June, at Steinholzlein, a water- 
ing-place near the city of Berne, some journeymen, at a 
jovial banquet, which the German courts characterized as 
seditious, raised the black-red-and-golden flag, and toasted 
a German republic. Kumor spread, and quickly magnified, 
the report. To many envoys of foreign powers it ap- 
peared a conspiracy against the thrones of their sovereigns. 
They demanded a severe punishment for so criminal a 
demonstration. But the government of the Bernese repub- 
lic answered : " With us the free expression of opinion is 
no crime, and where no law is broken there is no occasion 
for punishment." Thereupon another long interchange of 
notes took place. Finally, the German envoys, in anger, 
left their old residences in Berne and ceased all intercourse 
with her government. German mechanics were prohibited 
from entering, first the canton, then all Switzerland, because 
they were here trained as apostles of insurrection ; aa 



1834.] COttNT BOMBELLES. 816 

order of the diet at Frankfort also forbade German youth 
to study at the recently established universities of Berne 
and Zurich, and fresh hindrances to neighborly intercourse 
were interposed at the frontiers, to the injury of both sides. 
Keflection, however, soon convinced botli parties that 
obstinacy was not for the advantage of either. Berne 
herself, by degrees, modified her tone. This was especially 
the case when, with the beginning of 1835, she became 
Yorort of the Confederacy, and had no longer to consider 
merely her own relations with foreign states. But her 
leaning to moderation, now severely blamed as weakness 
by many who had before praised her opposition, did not at 
once accomplish her object. Even in February, count 
Bombelles, the Austrian embassador and chief opponent of 
the canton in the dispute about the refugees, sent notice of 
the accession of Ferdinand I., his imperial master, to the 
throne, by a simple letter through the post, contrary to 
custom. This opportunity was seized upon, nevertheless, 
in order to renew the interrupted correspondence. In 
their letter of congratulation, the state-council of Berne ex- 
pressed their regrets for the occurrence which had occa- 
sioned the alienation. But the reconciliation was still 
delayed. It could only be looked upon as accomplished, 
when Bombelles returned to Berne, in June. These un- 
pleasant differences had lasted a year and a half No one 
gained honor by them : neither the powerful states by their 
insolence toward the weaker, nor the free by their dis- 
regard of the rights of their neighbors. 



CHAPTER LXX. 

DISPUTE WITH FRANCE. 
[A- D. 1835 and 1886.] 

At this time the hope of forming a new and stronger 
bond between the Confederates diminished more and more. 
With the deputies from the former Sarnen-league, the spirit 



S16 tDttCAtlON FOSTERED. [iSS.'S- 

of division always reappeared in the meetings of the Diet. 
Every step towards improvement was only possible after 
arduous conflicts. Even for the introduction of uniform 
weights and measures only seven cantons gave their votes. 
The nation, however, greeted with joy the decree of the 
Diet that its sittings should thenceforth be public; and 
when it unanimously rejected the proposition for the se- 
paration of the principality of Neuchatel, it became evi- 
dent that the old Swiss spirit was not entirely dead. 

That spirit showed itself much more living, however, 
among the people than among their deputies to the Diet. 
It was apparent in the attempts now made to fortify by 
improved internal arrangements the popular freedom ob- 
tained since 1830. Everywhere, creative life was ma- 
nifested ; everywhere, magistrates, societies, noble-minded 
individuals zealously aided each other to remove old abuses 
or to introduce ameliorations. Above all, the education 
of youth inspired a before unknown enthusiastic activity. 
To produce a generation worthy of freedom was an object 
for the noblest efforts, and the scientific institutions of the 
cities, as well as the poor village-scncois, immediately felt 
the impulse of the new age. The means of defence also 
were rendered more efficient. The ancient manliness was 
again strengthened by military exercise and federal shoot- 
ing-matches. Even the Diet bestowed more attention than 
ever on the equipment of the federal army. These are 
the strongest ramparts of a people's independence : en- 
lightenment of the mind and strength in arms. Without 
these, the best constitutions are but dead parchments, 
having neither vitality nor force. 

The Confederacy looked on approvingly, when even the 
half-canton, Bale-country, the youngest child of their trou- 
bles, roused herself with determination to effect these great 
objects. She was obliged to remedy many deficiencies of 
earlier times, and, by wise management, to propitiate many 
troublesome opponents. Therefore her task was more 
difficult than that of any of the others ; the long civil dis- 
turbances had too much loosened the bonds of public order, 
and the government was not seldom deprived of the 
necessary assistance from the people. More than once, in 



-18S6.] LOUIS PHILIPPE. 817 

the beginning, seditious risings took place in separate com- 
munes; as on the occasion of the choice of clergy in 
Muttenz and Waldenburg, and afterwards, in Oberwyl and 
Allschvvyl. Only an armed force could here secure due 
observance of the laws. 

At this time another dispute appeared to threaten more 
serious consequences. Two French Jews, the brothers 
Wahl, had bought an estate in the village of Eeinach. 
The purchase was already completed in the customary 
form when the state-council annulled it, on the ground of 
an old law by which Jews were refused admittance to the 
territory of Bale. The Wahls, on the other hand, based 
their right on the treaty between France and Switzerland, 
which authorized such acquisitions. As Bale-country in- 
sisted on her position, they claimed the protection of their 
native land. Long negotiations now took place between 
the two governments. When these proved fruitless, France 
broke off all intercourse with the canton. The citizens of 
the latter were sent out of the kingdom ; even the dwellers 
on the border, who owned farms on French soil, were not 
permitted to cultivate them. This unfriendly state of 
things lasted several months. Finally, after much trouble, 
the Vorort settled the dispute. Bale-country was obliged 
to pay a heavy indemnity to the brothers Wahl, and 
France desisted from farther claims. 

This was, however, but a foretaste to Switzerland of a 
more serious difficulty with her powerful neighbor. King 
Louis Philippe, from this time, cooled more and more in 
his friendship towards the country which had once given 
him a hospitable asylum in his misfortunes. His state- 
policy offered this as a sacrifice to propitiate the court of 
Austria, which had always been hostile to him. An op- 
portunity for a quarrel, when diligently sought, is easily 
found. Several of the refugees, dismissed from Switzerland 
on account of the Savoy-expedition, had returned and 
again formed societies among themselves. We then heard 
of a "young Germany," a "young Italy," a "young Po- 
land;" a plan of theirs for an armed invasion of the grand- 
duchy of Baden was discovered. Then the Yorort deter- 
mined again to send away these disturbers of the peace, and 

2c* 



818 THE DUKE OF MONTEBELLO. [1836- 

requested France (June, 1836) to allow them a free passage, 
as she had before done. This was granted ; but the reply 
of the French embassador, the duke of Montebello, was in 
the tone of an angry lord towards his dependants. Never 
before had the governments of Switzerland been addressed 
so disrespectfully. It was even reported that Montebello, 
in an evening visit, had threatened the grey-haired presi- 
dent of the Confederacy, Tscharner of Berne, with a strict 
blockade of the frontiers of Switzerland, in case she did 
not readily yield to his demands. No free people can en- 
dure such arrogance. The whole country was aroused, and 
a cry of the deepest indignation resounded through all the 
cantons. Public meetings were called by men of influence : 
first in Flawyl, canton of St. Gallen ; then simultaneously and 
in unprecedented numbers, the citizens of almost all the re- 
spective districts assembled at Wohlenschwyl in Aargau, 
at Reiden in the canton of Lucerne, at Wiedikon near Zu- 
rich, and at Munsingen in the canton of Berne. Many 
thousands, and among them the noblest of the Confede- 
rates, unanimously demanded of the Diet the maintenance 
of the Swiss honor. The Diet, supported by such a man- 
ifestation of public feeling, replied to the French note as 
became rulers to whom the independence of their fatherland 
is an inviolably sacred treasure. Only the Sarnen-cantons, 
who unwillingly acknowledged even the vorortship of 
Berne, voted for abject submission. 

A few days afterwards, another circumstance blew into 
fresh flame the fire of just indignation against Montebello. 
He himself had requested the Vorort to banish a French- 
man of the name of Conseil, as an accomplice of the regi- 
cide Fieschi and a dangerous refugee. Conseil was 
therefore arrested at Nidau (10 Aug.). But it was proved, 
by the papers found and the examinations made, that, in 
contradiction to Montebello's complaint, he was a secret 
spy of France, sent to watch the other refugees. In fur- 
therance of this object, he had quite recently received, from 
the embassador's office, money and a passport under a false 
name. The tidings of such dishonorable treachery quickly 
spread. Every one felt that this was a contemptuous dis- 
regard of international rights. The Diet itself took the 



-1^36.] 'THE FllEXCH HLOCRADfi. S19 

matter in hand. A report, made by Keller of Zurich and 
Monnard of Lausanne, fearlessly unveiling the deception, 
was widely circulated in Switzerland as well as in France. 
It excited indignation in both countries. Even in the cham- 
ber of deputies at Paris, the minister was called to account 
therefor. The Diet decided, by a small majority, to com- 
plain of the embassador to his government and to transmit 
the documents. The Yorort, however, for fear of more se- 
riously irritating the French cabinet, declined to carry out 
this decision. On its mere publication in the newspapers, 
actual hostilities were threatened by France. A new note 
of the embassador (29 Sept.) demanded a signal satisfaction 
for the insult. Shortly after, the western portion of Switz- 
erland was "hermetically sealed" until such satisfaction 
should be given. From Bale to Geneva, no one could pass 
the line in either direction ; even the mails were stopped. 
French troops, in long array, kept guard. 

But the Swiss people were not terrified thereat. The 
traders of many cantons, of their own accord, ceased all in- 
tercourse with France. Popular meetings contributed 
money in aid of the more injuriously-affected border-inhab- 
itants. There was much more murmuring in France itself 
against such manifest injustice, and the royal government, 
feeling that it had gone too far, soon desired an accommo- 
dation. The Vorort called together the recently-adjourned 
Diet, who solemnly declared that they had yielded author- 
ity to no foreign state to interfere in Swiss affairs. Then 
they approved of the non-fulfilment of their decision in the 
matter of Conseil, and declared that they had no intention 
to offend the French government thereby. This declara- 
tion sent by courier to Paris, was there received as welcome 
tidings of peace. The blockade was raised after six weeks' 
duration (from 1 October to middle of November), and in 
the same winter, Montebello gave a grand reconciliatory 
entertainment. 

A result, worthy of note, followed this dispute, however. 
In the canton of Berne, the vacillation of the government 
had awakened in many the desire for a complete return to 
the old state of things. With this object, several societies 
bad been formed under the name of "Safety-unions," which 



§20 'THE {Safety- ttKioN's. [i8S4- 

were tools in the hands of the defunct aristocracy. Their 
committees met more and more boldly in the Casino of tlie 
capital-city. But now, both people and magistrates deter- 
mined to put a stop to such dangerous movements. After 
quite stormy discussions, the great council dissolved the 
safety-unions (8 March, 1837). But their members were 
not quieted. At Brienzwyler in Oberland, they preached 
open rebellion. Armed troops of volunteers immediately 
hastened from Thun, over the lake, to put them down, 
and public order was once more saved from the danger of 
subversion. 



CHAPTER LXXI. 

PROTOCOL OF THE BADEN-CONFERENCE J ITS OCCASION AND 

CONSEQUENCES. 

[A. D. 1834 to 1836.] 

The popular freedom of the Confederates soon had to 
withstand still more serious aggressions. The most dan- 
gerous foreign enemy came not from the borders of Aus- 
tria or of France, but from the ultramontane Rome, always 
striving for the empire of the world. Ever since the days 
when Napoleon Buonaparte's imperial throne had fallen in 
ruins, the papal court had employed every means to re- 
cover its old church-dominion of the middle ages. To 
secure the thrones and altars of Europe, no method ap- 
peared more efficacious than to bring the nations back to 
blind submission to doctrine. Switzerland was of no 
small importance in this scheme of conquest. The old 
church-piety of her mountaineers, her republican forms of 
government, the division of the country into many small 
states and their jealousy of each other, must be more 
favorable to such a design than could be the case in mon- 
archies. From her situation in the centre of Europe, 
Switzerland would also be very useful as an advanced 
post against other countries. Therefore the Roman cabinet 
especially endeavored to obtain a r^reat influence here. 



-1836.1 THE FOLLOWERS OF LOYOLA. 321 

The papal nuncio had already (1814) reoccupied his an- 
cient seat in Lucerne. His aims were directed towards 
assuring the inviolability of the numerous convents and 
ecclesiastical establishments, under the twelfth article of 
the new confederate league. With this object, the old 
bishoprics were split into smaller ones, that the divisions 
might be more easily commanded. The desire of the 
more intelligent of the people for a Swiss archbishop was 
entirely disregarded. The nuncio filled the office of chief 
shepherd directly in the name of the holy father. The 
order of Loyola, also, immediately upon its reestablish- 
ment after its seeming death of seventy years, secured a 
firm footing in Yalais (1814). Four years afterwards, it 
established a splendid central point of operations at Frei- 
burg. The effects of this upon a wide circle were soon 
perceptible in the subjugation of the popular mind to the 
yoke of priestly domination, as well as in the increasing 
intolerance between catholics and reformed. 

But in the beginning of 1880, the rising of the Swiss 
people for freedom seemed to circumscribe the further 
advance of the Koman power. Many flattered themselvea 
that it was forever rendered impotent. Yain delusion ! 
The operation of the national constitutions and laws unex- 
pectedly opened to the Komanists a way to greater influ- 
ence over the masses than before. Popular elections, the 
right to form associations, the press : freedom's weapons, 
were cunningly turned into arms against her. With untir- 
ing perseverance, church-questions were introduced into 
party-disputes respecting municipal matters. A great 
association of co-believers soon spread like a net over the 
whole land. Around the banner of the church gathered 
catholic popular-unions, strongly united, with priests as 
leaders : especially numerous in some districts of St. Gal- 
len, in the free- bailiwicks of Aargau and in Bernese 
Leberberg. Where, shortly before, " Freedom and the 
constitution" was the watchword in the mouths of all, 
now sounded the war-cry : " Religion is in danger." From 
the foreign Propaganda and the richest convents, monej^ 
flowed in to support the secret league. Its leading directoi 
was the papal nuncio, and with him abbot Celestin of 



822 ALOYS FUCHS. [1884- 

Einsiedlen. The free spirit of the nation was regarded as 
a common enemy. 

That which had originally been prepared in secret, was 
now boldly carried into open effect. Persecutions against 
tlu^se who believed differently were soon commenced. 
"W^hen priest Aloys Fuchs, by preaching and writing, en- 
deavored to reform numerous church-abuses in the chapter 
of Uznach, he was called to account before an ecclesias- 
tical inquisition at St. Gallen. In vain did he defend his 
course with noble ingenuousness. As he would not re- 
tract, the judges condemned his teachings as irreligious, 
and prohibited him the exercise of his priestly office. The 
bishop of Coire confirmed the sentence ; Fuchs, however, 
was honored by public opinion as a martyr for the truth. 

But when, at last, the pride of some bishops and priests 
led them to interfere in the management of the state, then 
the forbearance of the governments came to an end. Ab- 
solute necessity called for a general determined action to 
restrain the pretensions of the church within her proper 
limits. Deputies from Berne, Lucerne, Solothurn, Bale- 
country, Aargau, Thurgau and St. Gallen met immedi- 
ately in conference at Baden. Here they came to an 
understanding respecting the rights of the state in church- 
matters. Those rights which had long existed in part, 
and which were even affirmed by law in most monarchies, 
were secured for all : the Placet* respecting the mandates 
of church-dignitaries, the right of mixed marriages, the 
priestly-office oath to maintain the constitution. Steps 
were also taken towards a negotiation with the papal see 
for the establishment of a Swiss archbishopric and a 
priest's seminary, as well as respecting the observance of 
holy days and the holding of synods (14 January, 1834). 
All well-intentioned men looked more confidingly to the 
future ; but they were most bitterly undeceived. 

For, as soon as the protocol of the Baden-conference 
was published, suddenly and simultaneously from most of 
the catholic districts arose a cry of indignation on the 

* This relates to the form by which the civil authorities approT6 of 
church-decrees and assent to their promulgation. 



-1886.] POPE GREGORY XVI. 823 

part of the Komanists against it, as against an unprecC' 
dented abuse of power. C arses and threats were heard 
even from consecrated places. And the tumult increased 
when pope Gregory XVI. himself, in a circular epistle, 
condemned the several articles as " false, erring, an en- 
croachment on the rights of the holy see, destructive to 
tlie government of the church, tending to heresy, and 
schismatic." (23 October, 1835.) He, who should be a 
prince of peace, cast thereby the firebrand of long years 
of civil discord into the Helvetian Alpine land. The dis- 
pute blazed high everywhere. In Solothurn, where it 
was very virulent, the great-council dared not adopt the 
Baden-articles. In St. Gallen, they were rejected by the 
people, in prolonged general assemblies, excited thereto 
by the party of the zealots, contemptuously styled " red- 
stockings." In Lucerne, which accepted them, the people 
could hardly be pacified by the representations of the 
government. The solemn declaration of the latter, drawn 
up by the clever hand of the secretary of state, Constan- 
tine Siegwart, was even inserted by the pope, as heretical, 
in the list of prohibited publications. Shortly afterwards, 
the nuncio, in anger and without leave-taking, quitted 
Lucerne in the dusk of early dawn, and retired into 
Schwyz (29 JSTovember, 1835). Thurgau adopted the arti- 
cles in spite of the opposition of her clergy ; but open 
rebellion took place in Aargau and Berne. 

In vain had the great-council of Aargau published a 
quieting address to the people at the same time with the 
Baden-articles, which it approved. No quiet resulted. 
The priests of many of the catholic communes even re- 
fused to read the address at the Sunday-service, as they 
were ordered (May, 1835). When this disobedience was 
punished by the tribunals with suspension of functions and 
fines, the bishop of Bale refused to enforce the judicial 
sentence. A great dispute arose between the civil and 
ecclesiastical magistrates. The former were unwilling to 
have the reins of legal authority wrested from them. " To 
the church," said they, "belongs that which is of the 
church ; but to the state, no less, that which is of the state." 
Accordingly, in that same year, the oath of allegiance waa 



/ 



324 THE ABBEY OF MURI. [l834- 

required from the beneficed clergy, without prejudice to 
the obedience due to their superiors in ecclesiastical mat- 
ters. The same form of oath had already been allowed 
by the bishop, in other districts. But the dispute, once 
commenced, increased in vehemence. About the same 
time (7th ISTov.) appeared the decree of the great-council 
for a state-supervision of the property of those cantonal 
monasteries and nunneries which had been mismanaged. 
Then the signal for open resistance came from the abbey 
of Muri and its dependencies. The pretence was that the 
official oath required of the priests threatened the holy 
ancestral faith. Excited assemblages took place ; a second 
free-bail i wick-invasion of Aargau was already meditated, 
and the country was shaken from its peace by the antici- 
pated horrors of a religious war. The government once 
more strenuously exerted itself to restore quiet. When 
its words remained unheard in the uproar, it called for 
troops. The neighboring cantons, Bale-country especiall}'', 
immediately sent assistance. The free-bailiwicks were oc- 
cupied, without stroke of sword (26th Nov.). The excit- 
ers of the people fled, teiTified. Many of them, even some 
priests, were condemned by the courts, and the catholic 
unions were dissolved. Thus order was quickly restored. 
To complete the work of peace, the great-council issued a 
solemn declaration that the priestly oath of office in no 
way impugned the catholic faith. Finally, the pastors 
took it without further opposition. Shortly afterwards, 
the unfortunate misled people were, with great clemency, 
relieved from paying the costs of occupation. Notwith- 
standing all this, discontent still existed in several places, 
for a long time. Many awaited only a favorable oppor- 
tunity to rise in fresh opposition. 

Not long after these occurrences in Aargau, an outbreak 
followed in Bernese Jura. These mountain-valleys con- 
tain a strongly catholic and excitable population. When 
the government of the canton had voted in favor of the 
Baden-articles (Feb., 1836), the same influences were 
brought to bear here as on the Eeuss. Sermons of priests 
and distributions of miracle-working medals excited the 
people to raging fanaticism. From the catholic coumaunes, 



-1836.] 13]5RNe's FALSK STEP. S25 

whore French is spoken, rose, louder than elsewhere, the 
ery of " Eeligion is in danger." Cuttat, the city-priest of 
Pruntrut, an official of the nuncio, led the movement. 
From Pruntrut, it spread quickly into the neighboring 
villages. Here, excited women, bearing banners and 
crosses, travelled about, calling on the people to resist. 
Liberty-trees were planted ; magistrates insulted ; separa- 
tion from Berne demanded. Yicar Belet even negotiated 
secretly with the French embassador for the interference 
of foreign power. Here, also, the government first at 
tempted to avert greater disturbance by sending commis- 
sioners ; here also, after all other measures had failed, they 
were finally compelled to restore order by force of arms 
(10th March). Now, the ringleaders fled, the libertj^-trees 
fell, and the people, once more sobered, acknowledged that 
lies and fraud, and even high treason towards the state, 
had been covered by the false cloak of zeal for religion. 
But, in spite of their victory, the government did not long 
maintain their advantage. It was proposed to the great- 
council, by the advice, it is said, of the before-mentioned 
French embassador, to negotiate with the pope himself re- 
specting the admissibility of the articles he had condemned. 
In secret session (2d July) the proposition \^as accepted by 
the representatives of the people. 

This retrograde step on the part of Berne nullified all 
proceedings since the concordat of Baden, and prepared for 
its opponents a great and unexpected triumph. The pol- 
icy of Rome never draws back; where she can introduce 
a finger, she soon grasps with the whole hand. Now first 
began the real work of exciting the people against the lib- 
eral governments ; now first were the hellish seeds of dis- 
cord sown in the minds of men by a regular system of 
preachings and publications. And therewithal, those un- 
tiring champions of the church, the Jesuits, that they might 
be nearer to the theatre of operations, were invited to 
Schwyz, then the residence of the nuncio. Their entrance 
was solemnized in May. All friends of the fatherland 
were terrified thereat ; but no general assembly, no caii« 
tonal government, no Yorort, raised a voice in protest. 



826 THE BISHOP OF COIRE. [1887- 



CHAPTER LXXII. 

CONSTITUTIONAL QUARREL IN GLARUS. CONTEST BETWEEN THB 
HORNERS AND KLAUENS IN SCHWYZ. LOUIS NAPOLEON. 

[A. D. 1837 and 1838.] 

No Alpine valley was so secluded, no people's peace so 
sacred as to prevent an attempt to kindle the fire of re- 
ligious discord. This Glarus also experienced. Hitherto 
this little state, poor in consequence of the rugged ness of 
her soil yet made comfortable by the industry of her 
inhabitants, had remained almost undisturbed by the ex- 
citement of the times. But now, a serious quarrel unex- 
pectedly took place in consequence of a reasonable desire. 
The anniversary of the battle of Nafels had always been 
solemnized separately by the two church-parties. Many, 
however, had long desired to celebrate the hero-day of 
their fathers in brotherly union. The general assembly 
voted to that effect (1835). But the catholic clergy vio- 
lently opposed this measure; especially Tschudi, a priest 
of Glarus, whom bishop Bossi of Coire supported by his 
authority. When, notwithstanding this, the anniversary 
of the battle of Nafels was celebrated in common at the 
monuments on the election-field, the priestly anger gushed 
forth over the laud in unmeasured condemnation of the 
proceeding. But the free minds of the free people of 
Glarus revolted at this, and they said : " The priests are 
citizens like the rest of us, and subject to the same laws. 
No foreign bishop shall interfere in our private state- 
afiairs." Thereupon, it was decreed that the priests of the 
canton should take the oath of allegiance (29th May, 1836), 
and at the same time a change in the constitution was de- 
cided upon in order to abolish every distinction between 
the church -parties. Hitherto, for a long while, the re- 
formed and the catholics had had separate positions in the 
general assemblies held in common, and each division had 
its peculiar officers. Now began a new building upon the 
foundation-stone of the legal equality of all. The clergy 



-1838.] THE I'MMlTlVi: OaNTOKS. S2? 

and their partisans did all in their power to hinder this. 
As the party of cathohcs in Glarus itself was very weak, 
for it numbered only an eighth of the population, the as- 
sistance of other states, especially of Schwyz and tlri, was 
called in. The noise of this dispute soon filled all Switzer- 
land. But the people of Glarus, strong in their good right, 
pursued their legal course undaunted. The new constitu- 
tion was adopted (2d Oct.) by thousands of votes. But 
when, the next year, deputies of both religions, chosen by 
the assembled people, appeared at the Diet, the Urcan- 
tons* protested vehemently. They wished to expel the 
deputies and to annul the constitution. In spite of them 
the Diet, though by but a small majority, disregarded their 
proposition and passed to the order of the day. The re- 
quirements of Swiss brotherhood achieved a victory over 
church-party-spirit. But the partisans were not quieted 
in Glarus, until the government seriously threatened to 
punish them. Then they finally submitted to necessity. 

Still more violently did a civil storm rage shortly after- 
wards in neighboring Schwyz. Ever since this divided 
canton had been reunited in 1833 by the armed interfe- 
rence of the Confederates, the wound had been only scarred 
over, not healed. Those who longed for a restoration of 
their old domination constantly played an artful game. 
This was made manifest when (1836) the Confederate gov- 
ernment, after unremitting urgings and petitions, had re- 
leased them from payment of the costs of occupation. 
Then the chiefs of the "old free-land" with fresh, impe- 
rious haughtiness, at once displayed their rancor against 
the Confederate states, and especially against the formerly 
subject Outer-district. With them was the abbey Maria 
Einsiedeln, and the majority of the clergy, most promi- 
nently the nuncio and the Jesuits. Manifold intrigues, 
arbitrary judicial sentences, public insults, even persecu- 
tion of their opponents, constantly widened the breach. 
Finally, a strange dispute in the " old land " gave oppor- 
tunity for an outbreak. There had been, for many years, 



* Urcantons — original or primitive cantons — Uri, Schwyz and llnter 
Walden. 



S28 ASSEMBLY AT ROTHKNTHtTRM. [133?- 

in the Schwyz district, a law-suit respecting the use of certain 
extensive common pastures (Allmendeu). The rich there fed 
their large herds of horned cattle, and pleaded long-estab- 
lished custom ; but the poor, who had only a few sheep 
and goats, found themselves restricted, and demanded a 
division of this common property on equal terms. Hate- 
ful envy intermingled her poison. When the court de- 
cided in favor of the cattle-owners (Homers), the sheep- 
owners (Klauens) united with the Outer-district. So 
the matter became a political apple-of-discord. At the 
anxiously-expected general assembly of 1838, the new 
choice of magistrates was to determine who should be mas- 
ters in the land. Nazar Reding was the champion of the 
Klauens ; Theodore Abyberg, formerly leader in the inva- 
sion of Kussnacht, of the Horners. Monks and Jesuits, 
fearful of a diminution of their influence if the former pre- 
vailed, used every method to encourage their adherents. 
The pretensions of the Klauens were declared in chapter 
of the priests to be injurious to religion, and denounced 
from the pulpits. Even bribery was frequently attempted. 
Thus dawned the first Sunday in May. The people as- 
sembled on the field near Rothenthurm. The parties took 
their stands separately in front of the platform on which 
the magistrates were seated. The storm broke forth im- 
mediately on the election of tellers, which seemed to in- 
dicate a preponderance in favor of the Klauens. Then, 
suddenly, on a given signal, the Horners, armed with clubs, 
rushed Upon their opponents. A savage, even bloody, 
hand to hand conflict took place. The party of the lib- 
erals, forced to fly, dispersed in every direction. The 
general assembly was necessaiily dissolved. 

That day shook the state to its foundations. The Outer- 
district once more called for a division of the canton. The 
Yorort did indeed hastily send mediators; but they re- 
turned without accomplishing any thing, mocked by the 
leaders in Schwyz. These latter, at a second general as- 
sembly (17th June), from which the Klauens absented 
themselves, succeeded in securing the votes. This result 
was again violently disputed by their opponents. The 
whole Confederacy took sides, for or against. The Diet 



-1838.] QUEEN HORTENSE. S29 

was obliged to enjoin peace. A numerous deputation 
from this body summoned a third general assembly (16th 
August), and the proceedings took place in their presence. 
In the mean while, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities 
had won over a majority of the people, and their victory 
was complete and decided. When, thereupon, the Diet 
recommended forgetful ness of all that had occurred, the 
Outer-district reluctantly submitted, and every thing re- 
turned to its old course. 

This storm was not yet entirely cleared away, when all 
eyes in Switzerland were turned towards France, whence 
threatening clouds arose. A single individual caused the 
two nations to arm against each other: Louis Napoleon, a 
nephew of the great dead emperor. With his mother, 
queen Hortense, he had established himself at the castle 
of Arenaberg, in beautiful Thurgau, and had become a cit- 
izen of the canton. He was welcomed among the vigor- 
ous Swiss youth at the school for military exercise in 
Thun, and at the joyous public festivals. But, notwith- 
standing the republican tendencies which he seemed to 
cherish, the prince had not forgotten the brilliant destiny 
to which his birth had called him. In October, 1837, at 
Strassburg, with the hope of recovering the throne of 
France, he entered the country from which his family had 
been banished. He thought that the magic of his name 
would quickly bring the garrison and burghers of the city 
to his standard. But, instead of the expected crown, im- 
prisonment and exile to America were his lot. Soon, 
without notice, he recrossed the ocean, to be present at his 
mother's bed of sickness; and, even after her death, he re- 
mained in Thurgau. Then France requested the Confede- 
rates to expel this dangerous claimant of the crown, com- 
plaining that Arenaberg was a nest of conspirators (Ist 
August, 1838). In the newly-assembled Diet, the deputj' 
from Thurgau declared that the prince was a citizen of thai 
canton ; he therefore kept quiet, the government would 
protect him in his rights. With the deputy from Aargau, 
those of the western cantons most strenuously insisted on 
the inviolable independence of the nation. They desired 
.that the improper Remand pf France should be rejected. 
. ■^' ' ' 2d* 



S30 MARTIAL ENTHUSIASM. [l838. 

But other deputies were less firm. The Diet decided that 
instructions must first be received from the great-councils 
of the several cantons. Then the French government, dis- 
pleased at this delay, threatened force. Troops advanced 
from Lyons towards the Swiss frontier. General Aymar, 
in an order of the day, informed his soldiers that they were 
called out to chastise refractory neighbors. As soon as 
the report of this spread, Greneva and Vaud, most exposed 
to attack, rushed suddenly to arms. A great enthusiasm 
for their fatherland seized upon all the people. In a few 
days, twenty-five thousand men stood in arms, the fron- 
tiers were occupied, and the fortifications of Geneva bris- 
tled with cannon. When the enemy's forces reached the 
little frontier district of Gex, imagining that terror and 
confusion prevailed beyond the border, they unexpectedly 
found themselves in presence of a courageous army. Ac- 
cident might at any moment have produced a collision. 
One canton after another voted to reject the demand of 
France ; the warlike fire on lake Leman enkindled a like 
enthusiasm in the minds of all the Swiss people. At this 
ominous hour, a letter from prince Napoleon was received 
by the president of the Diet: he would voluntarily depart, 
in order not to occasion a breach between two friendly na- 
tions. At the same time he left Thurgau and Switzerland. 
France seized the welcome opportunity to renew her pro- 
fessions of friendship. Her politic king, Louis Philippe, 
who had made so many sacrifices for the peace of Eu- 
rope, had only wished to intimidate his opponents. At 
so determined a resistance, the desirability of exposing 
his kingdom to the chances of war became doubtful. As 
soon as his troops left the frontier, the Confederates also 
returned home, joyful in the conviction that the old hero- 
spirit of the fathers was still to be found in the sons on the 
day of need. 



LS89.J DAVID FREDERIC STRAUSS. 331 



CHAPTER LXXIII. 

EXPLOSION AT ZURICH. 
[A D. 1839.] 

With the foreign difficulty vanished also the internal 
union which it had for a short time produced. The al- 
ways watchful enemies of popular freedom prepared" to 
deal a decisive blow. And they first succeeded where no 
one expected it, at Zurich. 

Here, liberty had diffused her choicest blessings, as in 
almost no other region of the Confederacy. Industry and 
comfort prevailed ; newly-constructed highways promoted 
commerce ; by means of the public schools, in the improve- 
ment of which Thomas Scherr, a naturalized citizen of Ger- 
man birth, was actively efficient, a well educated genera- 
tion was growing up, and, by her new university, Zurich 
had become a far-shining star of science and art. The en- 
virons of many villages and of the capital-city, especially 
since the levelling of her old fortification walls, had been 
greatly embellished; numerous public buildings, of almost 
regal magnificence and devoted to noble institutions, had 
been erected. But, in spite of all these creations of the 
new age, the old aristocracy remained unreconciled. They 
could not brook the loss of their privileges; they still 
hoped for a restoration of their old domination. Every 
fault of the government was eagerly watched for, to be 
used for its destruction. The desired opportunity was 
found, shortly after Zurich entered upon the functions of 
Yorort, with the year 1839. 

Then, in the pride of prosperity and under the pressure 
of increasing demands for progress, the government un- 
dertook the work of introducing the science of the age 
into religious matters also. On motion of the council of 
education, they invited David Frederic Strauss of Wurtem- 
berg to the chair of professor of theology in the university 
(26th January). This person had recently excited much 
controversy among learned men by his work upon the life 



332 THE COMMITTEE OF FAITH. [l8S3 

of Jesus, in which he had declared the occurrences related 
in the Testament to be mere traditions of the first church. 
Some few sustained him, many more opposed. Although 
the invitation was made according to every legal form, a 
decided protest was immediately raised against it by the 
clergy. Archdeacon Fussli proposed in the great-council, 
that the church-council also should have a voice in the 
choice of theological professors of the university. His 
proposition was however rejected by a large majority. 
Then the opposition called upon the people. No means 
of arousing the masses can be more powerful than the 
exciting of religious apprehension. In meetings of the 
citizens, in pamphlets scattered profusely over the country, 
from the pulpits even, cries of apprehension and of fear 
immediately sounded. "The government," it was said, 
" will destroy religion. Our future pastors will be edu- 
cated by an unbeliever. Alas for our children ! They 
will fall into a new heathenism. Alas for those in dis- 
tress ! Alas for the sick and the dying 1 All trust in the 
divine word will henceforth be taken away from them." 
The system of public schools was the object of like accu- 
sations^ and, with Strauss and Scherr, was stigmatized as 
the enemy of the Christian religion. Thereby a strongly 
despondent feeling was awakened in the people. It be- 
gan, at once, to ferment in all parts of the country, where 
cheerful happiness had hitherto prevailed. In vain did 
the well-informed try to quiet it, as did burgomaster Hir- 
zel in his address "to his fellow-men." Their voices 
were lost in the tumult of curses against the government. 
"Whoever said a word in defence of the latter was de- 
nounced as a follower of Strauss. The strength of the 
opposition increased in a few days to an avalanche ; the 
movement quickly escaped from the control of its pro- 
moters. Early in February, some bold men had formed 
themselves into a "Committee of Faith," which soon ob- 
tained consideration and great influence. Its seat was at 
Wadenschwyl on the lake. Hurliman-Landis, a manufac- 
turer of Richterschwyl, Dr. Rahn-Escher and Bleuler- 
Zeller, both of Zurich, were its most efficient leaders. 
From these issued the word of command ; " Strauss must 



Ig39.] ASSEMBLE AT JCLOTEN-. 8SS 

not and shall not come." To give it authority, a bold ad- 
dress to the great-council was prepared by them, to which 
nearly forty thousand citizens affixed their names. Therein 
they demanded the dismissal of the abhorred professor, 
and, moreover, the controlling vote of the church in the 
choice of the officers of education, as well as in the direc- 
tion of the school-studies. A demand made by such 
numbers and with such vehemence could no longer be 
withstood. On the 23d of February, the great-council 
reconsidered their invitation to Dr. Strauss ; on the 18th 
of March they voted his dismissal on a retiring pension. 
The other demands of the people were referred to com- 
missioners for consideration. 

Although the principal matter was now settled, the 
storm it had aroused was not calmed. Political views had 
mingled with the religious pretext from the beginning, 
and the success hitherto obtained by the "beautiful de- 
monstration," as it was called, prompted the conception of 
broader plans. The leaders soon formed a close and 
strongly bound union, first of individuals, then of the 
committees already established in the districts and com- 
munes, of which they made themselves the ruling direc- 
tors. Thus, in fact, if not in name, an opposition-govern- 
ment, inimical to the legal magistrates of the state, came 
into existence. Fresh concessions of the great-council 
only increased the arrogance of their demands. When 
the council (27th June) passed a law whereby the popular 
wish respecting religious tuition in the schools was carried 
into effect, the Committee of Faith declared that they could 
no longer be satisfied with this. They demanded for the 
church a still greater control over the schools, and soon 
proclaimed more and more loudly that the government 
no longer possessed the confidence of the people. "For," 
said they, "how can men without religion be the rulers 
of a religious nation ?" The fire of zeal for the church, 
which had smouldered during the summer, was rekindled 
in the autumn. The Committees were roused to new 
activity, and, in order to make an overpowering demon- 
stration of popular opinion, a great meeting was called at 
Kloten. But when the leaders, in preparation for this, 



SS4 Pastor Bernard HtRZfiL. [issd. 

assumed also the direction in the communal assembUes 
and announced their will to the district-authorities, this 
encroachment upon the powers of the state seemed alto- 
gether too presumptuous. The government thought it 
was time to put bounds to the movement. They declared 
it seditious, and directed the state-attorney to draw up an 
indictment against the members of the Committee (23d 
August). At the same time, for their own protection, 
they called out troops, whom they almost immediately 
dismissed, when they saw, on all sides, the manifestations 
of displeasure at this proceeding. It was already too late. 
The cry of violence intended against the freedom and 
faith of the people gained the ascendancy. When the 
appointed day (2d September) came, ten thousand men 
hastened to the meeting, at Kloten, in spite of a violent 
rain-storm. Here it was decided: that the government's 
declaration of the movement as seditious must be with- 
drawn, the legal proceedings against the members of 
the Committee quashed, and an indictment drawn up 
against the state-attorney himself. Twenty-two deputies 
communicated these demands to burgomaster Hess. Now 
it became evident that the government was weakened by 
indecision. Their answer was evasive : The great-council 
must first be consulted. The Committee hastened its pre- 
parations. The most influential of its members, Dr. Rahn- 
Escher, immediately issued a call for insurrection. It was 
falsely announced that troops were on the march from 
other cantons to put down the people. This acted like a 
spark in a powder-barrel. All bonds of legal order were 
rent asunder and raging fanaticism filled the land. The 
storm first broke forth from Pfeffikon and along the lake- 
shores. During the night, horsemen hurried through the 
neighboring places, calling on the people to rise. And 
treason was soon rife in the city itself, it penetrated the 
session-hall of the government. Perplexity crippled all 
energy. On the morning of 6th September, the landsturm 
appeared before the gates of Zurich, in numerous, disor- 
derly masses, singing psalms. Most of them had scythes 
and clubs, many guns. Pastor Bernard Hirzel of Pfeffi- 
kon was their leader. After a hasty discussion with mes- 



1839.] COUNCILLOR HEGETSCHWYLER. 835 

sengers from the government, the crowd rushed into the 
city and over the bridge of the Limmat. In the cathedral- 
square, they were met by a few armed men, who then 
chanced to be at the exercise -school in Zurich, and who, 
reinforced by volunteers, were determined to protect the 
seat of government from violence. When these would 
not give way before the on-pressing multitude, pastor 
Hirzel cried: "Then fire, in the name of Grod I" Shots 
fell. They were returned, and many of the country-peo- 
ple retreated in confusion. Then state-councillor Heget- 
schwyler stepped between the exasperated men, to prevent 
further bloodshed. A shot from behind stretched him 
dead upon the ground. At this moment it was reported 
that the government had abdicated, and the troop of their 
last defenders immediately dispersed. Many were obliged 
to save themselves by flight from the vengeance of the 
landsturm ; with them most of the deposed magistrates. 
They were not in safety till they had passed the borders. But 
burgomaster Hess and several who had remained with 
him now united openly with the leaders of the insurrec- 
tion. By them a provisional government was formed, 
which henceforth assumed the direction of affairs. But 
the committee of faith joyously announced to its adher- 
ents far and near, that &od had given the victory to the 
just cause. To celebrate this victory, men, women and 
children thronged in numberless crowds to Zurich on the 
following days ; in the church, prayers alternated with 
carousings ; in the open streets, fanatical preachers rejoiced 
over the new salvation of the country. Therewithal, 
bloodthirsty threats were uttered against the followers of 
Strauss's doctrine ; but the prison-doors were opened for the 
incendiaries of the manufactory at Uster. Shortly after- 
wards, a new election of all cantonal officers and magistrates 
took place, and a spirit of bitter intolerance ruled. 

The evil results of this unprecedented act of violence 
were not confined to Zurich alone. Wherever the doctrine 
prevails, that a popular mob, breaking loose from all con- 
stitutional restraints, may depose and institute governments, 
there political wisdom no longer governs, but intrigue. 
Aud this evil example sooii had its f(.)llovyers. It first 



336 INACTIVII-Y OF THE DIET. [1840-- 

showed its effects upon the then assembled Diet. During 
the earlier occurrences, which took place under their very 
eyes, they remained fixed in stupid inactivity. Then, 
when they resumed their labors, it was evident that the 
seeds of discord, sown broadcast over Zurich, had germi- 
nated luxuriantly among them also. In consequence of 
the Yorort's apostasy from the cause of freedom, many dep- 
uties cherished similar desires, and preparations were 
thenceforth made for a great political revolution in the 
country of the Confederates. 



CHAPTER LXXIY. 

BITTER CONSEQUENCES. CONVENT-REBELLION IN AARGAU. 
[A. D. 1840 and 1841.] / 

The revolution at Zurich, though accomplished in the 
holy name of religion, occasioned very unholy troubles. 
From it proceeded a constant succession of disturbances, 
quarrels and rebellions throughout the cantons. Soon 
came the news of the overthrow of an unpopular govern- 
ment in Ticino ; then of the success of a reaction in Yalais ; 
then of plots in Aargau, Solothurn and Bale-country. 
Never had there been days of greater distress to the father- 
land from discord than these. 

In Bale-country, deficiencies in the management of the new 
administration had excited frequent dissatisfaction. When, 
now, the Sixth of September gave the evil watchword from 
Zurich, a union under the name of " Friends of the father- 
land " was formed for open resistance to the government. Its 
members, some of whom were men of poor reputation, while 
the majority were enthusiasts for liberty, did not disdain to 
coalesce with the partisans of Bale-city. At first, their de- 
signs were not considered dangerous. But, when, after 
their demands had been rejected by the state-council as im- 
proper, they preached resistance in the popular assemblies, 
and incited the communes to rebellion by envoys, it became 



-1841.] BALE-COUNTRY AND SOLOTHITRK. S37 

necessary to put a speedy stop to the disorder. The gov- 
ernment commanded the arrest of the ringleaders at Sissach 
and Gelterkinden, their headquarters. At the latter place, 
a tumultuous mob resisted the surrender of a prisoner. 
Troops were ordered there. The rebellious district was 
occupied without stroke of sword (15 April, 1840), and 
disorder immediately disappeared before the determination 
of the law. 

Shortly afterwards, a similar seditious movement com- 
menced in neighboring Solothurn. The constitution was 
then under revision. It was completed by the close of 
the year. It was then to be accepted or rejected by the 
people. There was a provision in the old constitution to 
the effect that, in case the new one was rejected, the former 
should remain in force ten years longer. This article, es- 
pecially, was made the pretext for incitement. For the 
leaders of the catholic communes liked neither the old nor 
the new constitution. They frightened the people from 
their quiet by the assertion that religion was not sufficiently 
protected in either. The excitement increased as the day 
for voting drew near, especially in the neighborhood of the 
Benedictine abbey of Mariastein. The discontented at- 
tacked the government more and more boldly in their 
newspapers. A committee of faith was formed here also. 
In the popular assemblies, got together by means of dis- 
quieting reports, the plan of a constitution, drawn up by 
the committee and favorable to the church, was promul- 
gated and its adoption demanded. But, as is the custom in 
Solothurn, many liberals freely attended such meetings, and 
their votes sometimes occasioned an entirely unexpected 
result. Then the leaders decided to employ force. The 
people of the communes quickly seized their arms, in some 
places for, in others against, the government. The latter 
did not lose their firmness for a moment. Unwilling to 
be suddenly deposed, as those of Zurich had been, they 
transferred their sittings to the barracks, called out troops 
for their protection, and ordered the arrest of the ringlead- 
ers. Thus a surprise was prevented. But the govern- 
ment was still more surely protected by the affection of the 
best of the people than by barracks and bayonets. They 
15 2e 



338 THE BUKZNER COMMITTEE. [1840- 

were supported faithfully. On the day of voting (10 Jan., 
1841). the new constitution was accepted by a large and 
triumphant majority, and, shortly afterwards, the names 
of the old, proved magistrates were again deposited in the 
ballot-boxes. 

More serious and more threatening to the whole father- 
land did disorder show itself in Aargau about the same 
time. The brands had not been extinguished in 1836, in 
the convent-districts on the Reuss and the Limmat. Dis- 
satisfaction still smouldered under the ashes, and was as- 
siduously fanned by the ministers of the Roman see, who 
wished to preserve a centre of disturbance for the fitting 
time. The example of Zurich taught them how their 
objects might be attained. Following that, a strongly 
cemented union was established here also ; communal com- 
mittees, closely united among themselves, were appointed ; 
the " Bunzner committee" had the supervision of the whole. 
Soon the time came when a revision of the constitution was 
discussed in Aargau also (1840). All moderate men of 
both church-parties wished to retain the Paritat under 
which the canton had lived happily for many years. The 
attack of the lea<][uers was first directed ag:ainst the main- 
tenance of this article. In a meeting at Mellingen (2 Feb.), 
they decided upon an address to ttie great council, in which 
the separate management of catholic affairs by special mag- 
istrates of that faith was asked for, in unseemly and inso- 
lent terms. At the same time, they demanded the resto- 
ration to the convents of all their former rights, viz. : the 
private management of their property, and freedom to re- 
ceive novices. The great council reluctantly rejected these 
demands, unprecedented in form and tenor : a compliance 
with them appeared most pernicious to the canton. To 
pacify the catholic districts, however, they inserted in their 
draft of a new constitution a guaranty of church-freedom. 
When this was submitted to the people (5 Oct.), the com- 
promise was rejected by all parties : to some it seemed to 
yield too much ; to others, too little. A second discussion 
of the constitution followed. The Paritat was now given 
up by the liberals, and it was voted : That the representa- 
tives to the great-council should henceforward be chosen 



-1841.] COMMISSIONER WaLlER. So9 

according to the number of electors, and no longer accord- 
ing to their faith. This exasperated the church-leaders: 
" Alas for us," said they ; " instead of granting our just re- 
quests, they deprive us of the little we have. The reformed, 
who are the most numerous, will enslave us now." They 
proclaimed this in the free-bailiwicks, in the district of 
Baden, and as far as the Rhine. Under stormy auspices, 
an excited meeting was held at Baden (29 Nov). Here, 
with the members of the Bunzner committee, several for- 
eign priestly and laical champions of the catholic church 
appeared on the platform, and also an ofl&cial of the papal 
nuncio. They demanded a second rejection of the draft of 
the constitution, and threatening voices were even raised, 
calling for an entire separation of the catholic portion of 
the country from Aargau. A breach seemed unavoidable. 
But the rashness of those speakers occasioned greater unity 
among all prudent persons; the country must be saved 
from a great calamity. In order to preserve public order 
from the imminent danger, the majority of the citizens of 
all districts and faiths now voted decidedly to accept the 
second draft (5 Jan., 1841). But the hopes entertained of 
an immediate restoration of quiet proved vain, neverthe- 
less. Soon the threats uttered at Baden began to ripen into 
deeds. The leaders recruited ; they armed ; everything 
was prepared for an onslaught. The emissaries of the con- 
vents and of the Bunzner committee were untiring in their 
efforts to rouse the citizens of the com'munes in defence of 
their threatened religion. Finally, the government ordered 
the arrest of the members of the committee (9 Jan). This 
was done; but now the flame of rebellion burst forth 
openly. A raging mob attacked the bailiff's house at 
Muri, in order to release the prisoners. In vain was a 
courageous resistance made by Waller, the government- 
commissioner. He was maltreated and imprisoned, with 
other faithful ministers of the law. The same thino^ oc- 
curred at Bremgarten, where serious injuries were inflicted 
on the officials and liberal citizens. At the head of the 
excited insurgents in both places, were the friends and ser- 
vants of the convents. But in the district of Zurzacb, 
father Theodosius, guardian of the capuchins at BaJen, 



§46 SUPPRESSION OF THE CONVENTS. [l840- 

himself personally commanded the assembling of the 
country-people and urged them on. The laws were disre- 
garded in the territory of the abbey of Wettingen also. 
The broad ramifications of the insurrection, even into 
neighboring cantons, became every day more and more 
apparent; a general conflagration threatened the whole 
country. The delay of another day would probably have 
rendered all remedy useless. But the government, con- 
scious of their high duties, had already adopted preserva- 
tive measures. Their armed force, hastily called out, under 
command of colonel Frey-Herose, marched in the night, 
through snow and wind, to the boundary of the free-baili- 
wicks; on the following morning (11 Jan.), to Yillmergen, 
whose fields had already, in earlier ages, been twice red- 
dened by citizens' blood, shed in religious wars. Here, 
the crowds of insurgents, called from a broad circle by the 
alarm-bells, had assembled for resistance. After a short 
fight, they dispersed before the thunder of the cannon. 
And now, without meeting further opposition, the victors 
marched to Muri. The convent and neighboring territory 
were occupied. On the next day, the auxiliary troops, 
which had been summoned from Bale-country and Berne, 
entered the other insurgent districts. Many of the mis- 
leaders and of the misled escaped in safety over the bor- 
ders. 

Grreat indignation was felt by all the people when this 
second breach of the public peace became known. The 
supporters of the policy of Rome, and the convents espe- 
cially, whose authority and money had been used to build 
"up a power inimical to freedom, were again regarded as 
the principal offenders. When the great-council consid- 
ered the extent of the danger they had averted, they felt 
how necessary it was to close its source for the future. 
Augustine Keller gave an eloquent expression to this feel- 
ing. He proposed that the convents, as incompatible 
with the welfare of the canton, should be forever sup- 
pressed. Moved by the power of his words and by the 
urgency of the momentous occasion, the assembly rose in 
favor of his motion. Only a few did not vote for it (13th 
January). And thus ended the niany-centuried existence 



-1841.] DISPUTE IN THE DIET. 841 

of those institutions of the middle ages, which once, in 
their prime, dispensed manifold blessings, but which had 
now become injurious to the country. They were: the 
rich abbeys of Muri and Wettingen, the capuchin-monas- 
teries in Baden and Bremgarten, the nunneries of Hermet- 
schwyl, Fahr, Gnadenthal and Mariakronung. The monks 
and nuns, dismissed from their convent-walls, received lib- 
eral pensions. The remaining property of the convents, 
added to the resources of the state, was to be used for the 
benefit of the catholic churches, schools and ahns-houses. 

As soon as this bold determination was adopted, voices 
of cheering approval were heard throughout Switzerland, 
and through almost all Europe. Still louder rose the cry 
of indignation from the ranks of the opponents. When 
the suppression of the convents was announced, the supe- 
riors protested. Their example was followed by the primi- 
tive cantons, especially by Schwyz, whence the nuncio ful- 
minated the shafts of his anger against Aargau. The agi- 
tation occasioned by the fall of these ancient religious es- 
tablishments spread into distant lands. From the imperial 
house of Austria, even, came a threatening protest, based 
on the former rights of the family of Habsburg over Muri. 
An extraordinary Diet was demanded by a majority of 
the catholic cantons. When they met, the deputies ex- 
hibited great bitterness against each other, as formerly, 
on the day of Stanz. The Urcantons' required that the 
convents should be reestablished without delay. "For," 
said they, "the bond of confederation is broken by this 
arbitrary proceeding. In the twelfth article of the compact 
the existence of the convents and religious establishments is 
expressly guaranteed. If Aargau will not yield volunta- 
rily, she must be compelled." To this, the severely blamed 
canton replied by her deputy, Dr. Wieland: " That twelfth 
article is not unconditional. The welfare of the state is of 
more importance than the existence of the convents. We 
do only what imperious necessity requires. Our convents 
have repeatedly promoted insurrections against the laws 
and constitution. Their reestablish men t would be a death- 
blow to our commonwealth. The question is no longer: 
^Aargau and the convents/ but 'Aargau or the convents, 

2e* 



842 BAUMGARTNER OF ST. GALLEN". [1840- 

If the one must stand, the other must fall." This serious 
dispute was settled by the influence of politic Baumgart- 
ner of St. Gallen. Formerly an enthusiastic champion of 
freedom, on that day he openly deserted the cause he had 
previously maintained and went over to its opponents. 
His motion prevailed. Twelve cantons declared (2d 
April): "The act of suppression is inconsistent with the 
bond of confederation." But Aargau was unwilling to 
yield her just right. From respect to the decision of the 
Diet, she did indeed suspend the present fulfilment of her 
decree respecting the convent-property, but she appealed 
to the sense of equity in her fellow Confederates, while in 
a memorial she laid bare the culpability of the suppressed 
religious establishments in all their proceedings. Her ad- 
dress produced a slow but increasing effect. The regular 
Diet of the year did indeed reaffirm the previous declara- 
tion, but not with the same decision. Now, the vorort 
Berne sided with the hard-pressed neighbor canton, and 
her avoyer, Carl Neuhaus, full of the spirit of freedom, op- 
posed himself like a wall to the arrogance of the friends of 
the convents. It was soon apparent that some concession 
on the part of Aargau was more desirable than inflexible 
obstinacy. Thereupon the great-council decided, that, for 
the sake of national peace, the three nunneries of Fahr, 
Gnadenthal and Mariakronung, as least implicated in the in- 
surrection, should be reestablished in their privileges (19th 
July). Herewith Vaud and Scaffhausen declared them- 
selves satisfied, and w^hen the Diet met for the third time 
this year on the convent-question, the declaration of April 
had no longer a majority of votes. Now,^ the restoration 
of all the convents was demanded only by Lucerne, the 
three primitive cantons, Zug, Freiburg, St. Gallen, Gri- 
Bons, Yalais, Neuchatel, Inner Appenzell and Bale-city ; ten 
votes and two halves; while Solothurn, Aargau, Ticino, 
Vaud, Thurgau, Schaffhausen, Outer Appenzell, Bale-coun- 
try, Glarus and Berne, eight votes and two halves, de- 
clared themselves satisfied with the concessions of Aargau; 
Zurich and Geneva wished Hermetschwyl to be added, on 
certain conditions, to the other three. Thus the matter 
gtij) remained undecided. The dispute continued ; ever^ 



-1841.] JOSEPH LEU OP EBERSOLL. 343 

year the dispossessed abbots renewed their demands for 
the reestablishment of their convents; every year thou- 
sands of petitioners addressed the deputies in their behalf 
A constantly-widening gulf was opened between the par- 
ties, and the fatherland would ultimately have been rent 
by it, had not the hand of God mercifully directed other- 
wise. 



CHAPTER LXXY. 

REVOLUTION IN LUCERNE, IN TICINO AND GENEVA. 

[A. D. 1840 to 1841.] 

The insurrections of the followers of Rome had failed 
before the firmness of Solothurn and Aargau. They still, 
however, expected to succeed in their designs upon Lu- 
cerne. Here, a large portion of the people were blindly 
submissive to the priestly rule, and the seed of distrust of 
the government had long since taken root. Since the 
government had urged the acceptance of the Baden-articles, 
many had fallen away from them, in anxiety about the 
holy church. The success of the onslaught at Zurich had 
awakened emulation to follow the example thus set, and 
the suppression of the convents in Aargau had broken all 
bonds of existing order. With cries of alarm, the banner 
of " danger to religion" was raised in all the villages, and 
a daily increasing number of those who were anxious for 
their faith flocked around it. Joseph Leu of Ebersoll, an 
energetic but fanatical peasant, made himself the leader of 
the movement. Already, in the winter of 1839, he had 
proposed in the great-council : That Lucerne should with- 
draw from the league of the seven liberal cantons, should 
invalidate the Baden-articles, and invite the Jesuits to 
direct public education. At that time, indeed, this proposi- 
tion was angrily rejected ; but Leu, with untiring perseve- 
rance, pursued his object, which became the aim of his 
life. And when he was applauded more and more by the 
masses, others, distinguished for their determinatioia aad 



344 CONSTANTINE SIEQWART. [1840- 

mental gifts, soon joined him : among them, Constantine 
Siegwart, formerly secretary of state, once a zealous 
champion for the rights of the state in church-matters, 
now their equally zealous opponent, Bernard Meyer, 
Christopher Fuchs and others. When men of such force 
lay the axe to the root of the young tree of freedom, it 
must soon totter. A committee of faith, as at Zurich, took 
the reins with strong hands. Popular unions, with incred- 
ible activity, roused the country. The whole territory 
of Lucerne was brought into a state of feverish fermenta- 
tion. An immediate change in the constitution was de^ 
manded ; and the government, all at once become powerless, 
could no longer avert the imminent storm. A constituent- 
council was decreed. From pulpits and confessionals, as 
well as in numerous pamphlets, the people were exhorted 
to choose only church-pious men, that the canton might 
be saved from the horrors of radicalism. The exhortation 
had its effect. Under the appearance of extended popular 
sovereignty, the direction of the council was secured to a 
few individuals, and a wide door opened for the triumph 
of the power of the Koman-catholic church. The remon- 
strances of moderate men were of no avail : popular indig- 
nation was more violent against them than against the so- 
called heretical reformers themselves. On the 1st of May, 
1841, the new constitution was accepted by a large majority 
of the people ; hardly a third of the citizens desired to 
vote against it. Now, the government quitted their seats. 
Their farewell-address, full of noble regrets over the des- 
truction of the long-established and beneficent constitution, 
glanced also, with sad forebodings, at the future. Into the 
places of the ejected entered a new great-council, -the 
larger proportion of whom were noted for incapacity, and 
a new government, with minds completely subservient to 
church-domination. Their first work was to lay the con- 
stitution at the feet of the pope for his approval. Never- 
theless, he did not approve it unconditionally, but, in his 
reply, expressed the hope ; That he might yet, hereafter, 
see fruitful proofs of the pious inclinations of the people 
of Lucerne towards the mother-church and the supreme see 
of St. Peter, 



-1841.] COLONEL LUVIKI. 345 

After this disorderly revolution in the catholic Yorort, 
the reaction was pressed, with still more vigor than before, 
throughout the whole Swiss Alpine land. But not with 
equal success in all parts, and with least among the hot- 
blooded people of Ticino, beyond the St. Gotthard. 

This canton had been the first with Lucerne, even before 
the Parisian days of July, to commence a reform in her in- 
ternal affairs. But the changes then made were only half- 
way measures. Instead of the fine crop hoped for, a fresh, 
luxuriant growth of the weeds of old abuses soon sprung 
up. Many magistrates shamelessly plundered the com.- 
monwealth for their individual advantage, and the numer- 
ous clergy obtained an almost unlimited influence in the 
legislative council. After the triumph of the committee 
of faith at Zurich, the daring of the men in power in Ticino 
increased greatly. They now sought to extirpate the last 
remains of popular freedom, to trammel the press, to restain 
the right of association. This attempt, however, resulted 
in their own bitter defeat. For when the dissolution of 
the cantonal shooting-unions was ordered by a decree of 
government, because their bold spirit displeased the rulers, 
the members rose in active opposition. The alarm-drum 
beat to arms. Colonel Luvini, with a band of faithful 
men, surprised the arsenal at Lugano, and marched thence, 
in arms, to Locarno, where he was received joyfully (4th 
to 7th Dec, 1839). Liberty-trees in cities and ' villages 
proclaimed the triumph of the popular cause. When the 
state-council saw that all was lost, terrified, they fled over 
the frontiers into Lombardy ; with them, many of their 
devoted clergy. Then ensued a complete overturn of the 
former state-management, with new laws and new magis- 
trates. Ticino thenceforward ranged herself under the 
banner of progress, and a ray of hope lightened those days 
of sore distress to the fatherland. It was but for a moment, 
however. In the intoxication of their triumph, the new 
leaders forgot that moderation towards the conquered 
is always more honorable than victory itself The 
banishment of their opponents from their native soil was 
not enough : they must also be ruined by confiscation of 
their property, and declared infamous by judicial sentence. 
15* 



346 J0SEI*11 NESSl. [1840- 

The exiles swore a bitter revenge for this. Bj constant 
intercourse with those of their adherents who had re- 
mained, they succeeded in fomenting disturbance. Many 
priests turned their pulpits into political tribunes and de- 
claimed against the government. Soon a fanatical hatred 
burned between communes and communes, between citizens 
and citizens of the same district; the dagger, even, was 
not seldom bared for assassination. As the vorort Lucerne 
was now thrown open to those who fought for the destruc- 
tion of Swiss freedom, her example incited to a similar at- 
tempt here. In the mountain-valleys of Maggia and Ber- 
zasca, where the adherents of the conspirators were nume- 
rous, the signal was given for a counter-revolution (1st 
July, 1841). At the same time, the exiles, with troops 
they had enlisted, entered the country from Lombardy 
and marched towards Locarno, the seat of the government. 
The latter, forewarned from Milan, prepared for defence. 
Troops hurried to Locarno, and the shooting-unions again 
proffered enthusiastic support. An encounter took place 
near the Brolla-bridge, half a league from the capital-city. 
The insursfents were defeated here, and in a still more des- 
tructive battle, the next day, near Tenero. Reduced to 
despair, throwing away their arms, they fled with their 
hirelings. One of the leaders, lawyer Joseph Nessi, was 
given up by his own men ; the Lombard authorities sent 
others, as prisoners, to Ticino. Deputies came from the 
communes of Maggiathal, imploring mercy. Peace was 
restored in a short time, and a thanksgiving-festival 
solemnized the renewed triumph of freedom. But this, 
also, did not remain unsullied. A drum-head court-mar- 
tial condemed Nessi to death. Even Luvini, at whose feet 
the wife of the unfortunate man cast herself with her chil- 
dren, could not save him. He was shot. Great as had 
been the exultation of many in Switzerland at the failure 
of the insurrection, their horror at this bloody deed was 
equally great. Sentences of death, in civil struggles, fix 
an indelible blot on the cause in which they are issued, 
and always elevate the sufferers to the dignity of martyrs. 
The government was more merciful a few months later, 
when it permitted several of the exiles to return to their 



-1841.] THE MARCH-UmOK. 347 

homes. Thenceforward, trusting to the love of the people, 
it secured a firm opposition against all further intrigues of 
its enemies. 

In the same year, the republic of Geneva began also to 
be a theatre of civil disturbance. The constitution of 1814 
had deficiencies arising from the period of its adoption. 
Long since, but in vain, had enlightened members of tlie 
government itself sought to introduce propositions for more 
open elections, a shorter term of of&ce for members of the 
council and the right of free petition. They were thwarted 
by the opposition of those of different views. In spite of 
these latter, Geneva, though restricted at home, had always 
sided with the party of progress in Confederate matters and 
there led in the cause of freedom. But now an association 
of citizens under the name of the " Third of March," 
boldly entered the lists for a new regulation of their own 
cantonal affairs. The people, instructed by writings and 
speeches, soon pronounced in favor of their object. This 
caused the state-council, though yielding unwillingly to 
the general demand, to lay propositions for a reform be- 
fore the chamber of representatives (22d Nov). That 
which, if offered of their own accord a few months earlier, 
would have been accepted with gladness, was now received 
with cold mistrust and already was no longer satisfactory. 
A constituent-council, chosen from among the citizens, 
would alone accomplish the desired object. This demand 
became the watchword of the day. To give it force, the 
March-union assembled with crowds in the vicinity of the 
council-house. The state-council, on its side, summoned 
troops to protect the magistrates, and ordered the doors of 
the building to be barricaded. A serious conflict seemed 
imminent. But of the militia summoned, none appeared 
from the city and from the country -communes only a very 
few. These few, also, immediately dispersed. When the 
council saw themselves thus deserted by their fellow-citi- 
zens, they yielded entirely to the loudly-declared popular 
will. Their decision was announced amid the congratu- 
lations of the assembled crowd. The elections of the con- 
stituent-council soon followed ; on 23d Dec, it began its 
work. The hitherto chained waves broke forth ragingly. 



348 THE STRUGGLE [lS42- 

Though numerous concessions were made in favor of 
popular sovereignty, there were some who demanded more 
and greater. Again there were threatening assemblages ; 
again the troops were summoned (Jan., 1842). The work at 
last came to a conclusion in the midst of an unfavorable 
party-hatred, and unexpectedly received the approval of 
the majority of the citizens. The March-union, which had 
given the first powerful impulse, had fallen in their es- 
timation. This was very evident, when few of its members 
received votes at the new election of magistrates, and many 
friendly to the old state of things were chosen. The old 
spirit was again breathed into the new form ; therefore the 
buds of future discord sprouted into life with the very in- 
troduction of the altered constitution. 



CHAPTER LXXVI. 

TERMINATION OF THE CONVENT-QUESTION. FORMATION OF THE 

SONDERBUND. 

[A. D. 1842 to 1848.] 

This was a period of constantly increasing party-bitter- 
ness. The scales rose and fell, according as one side or the 
other obtained a momentary preponderance. No longer 
did the leaders and orators of the people alone take part in 
the great war of opinion, but all classes showed more and 
more plainly their sense of its momentous importance. 
The whole fatherland was soon divided into two great 
camps. On one side floated the holy banner of religion, 
calling for a restoration of the institutions of the good old 
times; on the other, men stood in defence of acquired 
popular rights and desired a new and stronger bond of 
confederation. On this side were the inhabitants of those 
cantons which were rich in enlightenment and industry ; 
on the other, the uneducated shepherds of the mountai-ns, 
especially of the primitive cantons, with church-led people 
of other districts. The papal court directed the movement 



-1843.] REALLY POLITICAL. 849 

on the part of tlie latter, furnished them with leaders and 
war-cries. The struggle had the appearance of relating 
solely to the catholic faith, while it was really political. 
Nfany of the reformed held with the church-party, many 
of the catholics with the party of freedom, according to 
their political bias. 

The question of the Aargau-con vents was always the 
apple of discord, which excited the combatants. The less 
a settlement was attempted inside of the council-hall, the 
more earnestly was the matter discussed outside. So long, 
I'.owever, as Zurich remained under the dark laws of the 
September storm of 1839, the balance inclined in favor of 
the reestablishment of the suppressed convents. But great 
changes took place in this canton in the course of a few 
years. Many, who had formerly been zealous for the 
overthrow of the old government and constitution, now 
blushed to see their native canton hand in hand with the 
hereditary foes of popular enlightenment. Thus it hap- 
pened that, in 1841, their ears were again opened to listen 
to an address from the unions of Aargau respecting the 
matter of the convents. This solemnly declared that the 
people of Aargau did not desire the oppression of their 
.?atholic brothers, but only freedom and equal rights for 
all ; that the suppression of the convents, as magazines of 
mcessant disturbance, was not a deed of gratuitous vio- 
lence but of imperious necessity, and that Aargau ex- 
pected friendly and neighborly assistance from Zurich in 
ihe troubles of the times. This address produced a deep 
effect. When, shortly afterwards, some members of the 
deposed government called a meeting of the people at the 
village of Schwammedingen (29th Aug.), more than twenty 
thousand citizens were present, and unanimously declared 
their approval of the proceedings of Aargau. This great 
manifestation of repentance at once changed the course of 
things. Public spirit was rejuvenated and demanded a 
recurrence to the liberal measures of the government of 
1830. But it disdained to repay like by like, violence by 
violence : the popular wish for improvement must be de- 
monstrated by the legal votes of the communes. In vain 
did the coUapsmg band of the men of September oppose 



850 THE NUNCIO AT LUCERNE. [1842- 

this wish. In vain did their most clever champion, state- 
councillor Blanschli, endeavor to raise tlie credit of his 
government by ferretting out the communistic tendencies 
of certain German journeymen, and cause conservative 
axioms to be embodied in a defensive plea by two G-er- 
mans, the brothers Rohmer. The fresh stream of the 
movement swept uninterruptedly onwards. When, in 
May, 1842, the great-council was chosen anew by the peo- 
ple, the names of the once so-beloved, but afterwards se- 
verely calumniated, people's-friends were again deposited 
in the ballot-boxes, by large majorities. Zurich again re- 
trieved her ancient dignity. But now, made wise by bit- 
ter experience, she pursued her course with more enlight- 
ened moderation, free from all excess. 

While reaction lost one star here, another quite as prom- 
ising beamed from over the lake of the four cantons. Lu- 
cerne, becoming Yorort with the new year 1843, turned 
her whole influence to secure the preponderance of the 
catholic cause in the Confederacy. It was an omen full of 
significance that, on 22d January, the papal nuncio, after 
seven years' absence, returned from Schwyz to his ancieno 
residence. He was welcomed with solemn pomp. As 
soon as he was there, the execution of great designs com- 
menced. From the state-council of the Yorort, at once 
issued an imperious mandate to Aargau to annul all sales 
of convent-property : in case of refusal, she was threatened 
with the interference of the Confederacy. As this canton 
did refuse, the Yorort forwarded an angry circular letter 
to the several Confederates, requiring the Diet to decide 
the question respecting the existence or non-existence of 
the convents. The councils and communes assembled to 
igive instructions. There were still doubts of the result. 
Finally, every thing depended on the decision of St. Gal- 
len. But here an agreement of opinion was more dif&cult 
than elsewhere, as the parties were exactly balanced in the 
great-council. At last an instruction emanated from that 
body, by which, in consequence of their inability to agree, 
the vote for or against was left entirely in the hand of tho 
deputy. In anxious suspense, the nation saw the Diet as- 
semble. At first a decision seemed hardly possible, Theii 



FVBUC mRAT^^" 
ASHTOH. IDAHO 

-1848.] THE Si:£ CAT?HOLld CANTONS. 851 

the deputy of Aargau hastened home, to solicit fresh di 
rections, with which to close the last gap in the ranks of 
the liberal cantons. In a memorable sitting (28th and 29th 
Aug.), the great council of Aargau now determined to 
make another peace-offering to the fatherland, and to add 
Hermetschwyl to the other three restored nunneries. Thi;? 
noble offer accomplished the purpose. Now the deputy 
of St. Gallen, Fels, heartily gave his deciding vote in favor 
of Aargau. The required number of twelve votes was 
complete. The convent-question was dismissed as decided, 
and a dangerous dispute seemed finally settled. 

But this hope was disappointed. Lucerne and the Ur- 
cantons, with Zug and Freiburg, refused to recognize the 
validity of this decision, which they termed a breach of 
the compact on the part of the twelve cantons. They even 
showed themselves determined to give a formidable stress 
to their protest. They prepared an opposition which could 
only end in a final struggle for life or death. Great activ- 
ity was noticeable everywhere among the church-party. 
Numerous journeyings, secret appointments and meetings 
took place. No uninitiated person could unravel their 
whole meaning. It remained a secret for an entire year, 
that, in a conference of the deputies held at the baths of 
Rothen, near Lucerne (13th to 15th Sept.), the basis of that 
Sonderbund (separateleague)ofUr-schweiz was laid, which 
afterwards proved so eventful in the history of the Con- 
federacy. Like the old Borromean league, it was a formal 
and solemn offensive and defensive alliance between those 
six catholic states against the liberal cantons. Lucerne 
was placed at the head as catholic Yorort. She was even 
empowered to institute a council of war, to call out troops, 
and to execute the plans of the league with an armed 
hand. All this was concluded by the leaders in council ; 
the people were not asked for their approval. The under- 
taking was therefore a breach of their own cantonal con- 
stitution, and even more : a rebellion against the general 
compact of the Confederates, although under the pretext 
«^ wishing to preserve it from infringement. This wa3 
loudly proclaimed to the world by a second conference 
held at Lucerne towards the end of January, 1844, in a 



352 SfidftfiT PLAJfS. [1844 

public manifest, wherein it was also declared that the six 
cantons would not rest nor desist until the convents of 
Aargau were reestablished and the rights of the catholic 
church secured. The more intelligent were convinced that 
other plans lurked in the background : the annulling of 
the liberal reforms since 1830, and the elevation of the 
chnrch-party to supreme power in Switzerland. This be- 
came more evident, day b}^ day, from the zeal with which 
the Sonderbunders endeavored to strengthen their party in 
every direction. They failed, indeed, in their attempts to 
win over Thurgau and St. Gallen, but all the greater was 
their triumph when Yalais joined them, after a long con- 
test stained with the blood of her citizens. 



CHAPTER LXXYIL 

PARTY-HATRED IN VALAIS AND FRATRICIDE ON THE TRIENT. 

[A. D. 1844] 

In this rugged, highland valley, accessible to its neigh- 
bors on the right and left only by mountain-paths covered 
with glaciers, dwelt a people generally uneducated and 
subservient to the priesthood. Some families of the old- 
time nobles ruled them, but without the power or the will 
to ameliorate their mental or physical condition. After 
its union with Helvetia, this country remained for fifteen 
years sunk in dead inaction. The reform-movement of 
the Vaudois, in 1831, had first excited to emulation the 
people of Lower- Valais, influenced by the conversation 
and customs of their lively neighbors. They had, from of 
old, been subject to the upper portion of the country. 
But when, in that year, they loudly expressed their wishes 
for an equality of rights, they were soon again reduced to 
silence by force of arms. In spite of this, the tithings of 
Entremont, Martigny, St. Maurice and Monthey, in 1833, 
after the fall of the Sarnenbund, renewed their just de- 
mands in a petition breathing noble sentiments. The state* 



'$44.] LIBEEAL CONSTITUTION. 85t 

'iouncil again contemptuously rejected it. The same tiling 
cook place on the following year. But when the ti things 
of Sierre and Sion joined the western districts, a majority 
of the council granted that which could no longer be re- 
fused. A constituent-council framed a new constitution, 
which was accepted by a majority of the people on 17th 
February, 1839. But Upper Valais, which had voted 
against it, obstinately persisted in her opposition. The 
old government, unwilling to surrender their power, re- 
tired to Sierre ; that chosen under the new constitution 
fixed its seat at Sion. A civil war was on the point of 
breaking out between them. To prevent this, the vorort 
Zurich sent mediators ; and, when these could accomplish 
nothing with the embittered parties, the Diet decided that 
the work on the constitution should again be taken in 
hand. Lower Yalais, though in the right, submitted to 
this decision, and sent deputies to the newly assembled 
constituent-council. But Upper Yalais inexorably refused 
to do this also. The discussions began, nevertheless, and 
on the 3d of August, another constitution was completed, 
from which, to satisfy the opponents, the article on the 
freedom of the press was stricken out. The people ac- 
cepted this also by an overwhelming majority, and even 
many of the communes of Upper Yalais voted for it. The 
Confederate deputies declared that the legal approval had 
been given, that the object of their mission was accom- 
plished, and returned home. But the state-council of 
Sierre, in conjunction with the bishop of Sion, resisted 
strenuously, and, in a circular letter to the cantons, de- 
manded a separation of the upper district from the western 
tithings. 

Thus stood matters in Yalais when, in 1839, the vorort 
Zurich herself became the theatre of a bloody revolution, 
and reaction raised its head everywhere more boldly. 
The first consequence of this was that the Diet refused to 
the new constitution that guaranty which had been prom- 
ised by the deputies of the Confederacy. The liberal Ya- 
laisian representatives were sent back, and a fresh media- 
tion ordered. Now, the Lower Yal^aisians, indigiiant at 
this breach of faith, refused assent. " We prefer separa- 

2y^ 



354 THE CONVENT OF ST. BERNARD. [l84i 

tion," said they, "rather than subjection to our old bond- 
age." The state-council of Sierre, however, deemed them- 
selves strong enough to enforce su'^^mission to their wishes. 
When a dispute respecting the trade in salt occurred be- 
tween citizens of the commune of Evolenaz, which had 
voted for the constitution of 3d August, they hastily or- 
dered out troops and occupied that village (March, 1840). 
Then the alarm-drum beat through all Lower Yalais ; the 
young men seized their arms with determination and hur- 
ried towards Sion. Their opponents, after a short fight, 
gave way before their furious onset. Now, the leaders of 
Lower Yalais, Maurice Barmann and Joris, pressed irre- 
sistibly forward with their adherents. Sierre was taken ; 
the old state-council fled ; shouting treachery, the dispersed 
troops, in bUnd rage at their defhat, murdered grey-haired 
Peter of Curten, brother of the president of the council. 
All Upper Yalais submitted to the government of Sion, 
which accomplished the work of victory by a noble mode- 
ration. 

But, although the peace-giving promise of forgiveness 
for all past offences was made, no real peace was restored 
to the banks of the Khone. The members of the old state- 
council, on their return home, cherished inveterate enmity 
in their hearts and awaited the moment for revenge. To 
them secretly adhered the numerous priesthood, whose 
power, worthy of the middle ages, had hitherto flourished 
here more than almost anywhere else. In the new rights 
of the people they saw danger to their own old supremacy. 
When, soon after, encouragement came from reactionary 
Lucerne, their opposition to the liberal government was 
more and more openly declared. This was especially the 
case in 1843, when propositions were made for two laws, 
one of which tended to the improvement of public edu- 
cation, and the other provided that, in case of military tax- 
ation, the clergy should also contribute. The Jesuit mis- 
sions opposed both projects violently. The provost of St. 
Bernard, in his Whitsuntide sermon, expatiated on the in- 
jury done to the people by the public schools. The tax- 
ing of ecclesiastical property was openly declared to be 
contrary to catholic doctrine, and the govern :aient de^ 



1844.J BERNARD MEYER. 855 

nounced as haters of religion. The consequence was that 
the frightened people at once rejected both propositions. 
This victory encouraged the clerical leaders to further 
steps. The society of " Young Switzerland" was especially 
a thorn in their sides, because the changes of 1839 were 
due to its activity and it now gave important support to 
the government. Against it the principal attack was di- 
rected. Its members were debarred from all the privi- 
leges of the church, from the confessional, from partaking 
of the sacrament, from acting as godfathers in baptism. 
The bishop even ordered that the reading of the " Echo of 
the Alps," published by that society, should be forbidden 
from all pulpits. In consequence of all this, bitter hatred 
again burned between the parties. It reached an un- 
equalled height, when, towards the end of 1843, a new choice 
of legislators was to take place. It was known that the 
rich convent of St. Bernard, by distributing money, the ab- 
bey of St. Maurice, by means of emissaries, influenced the 
electors. No effort was left untried to spur the people to 
a raging fanaticism. Some liberals were even assassi- 
nated. Neither did the "Young Swiss" remain within the 
bounds of moderation. A band of these tumultuouslj^ de- 
stroyed the printing-office of the " Simplon Zeitung," an 
engine of the clergy, at the very moment when the people 
were on their way to the polls. Nothing, however, could 
now prevent the long-prepared revolution. The votes 
were given in great majorities for the friends of priestly 
supremacy, and the magistrates were almost passive tools 
in the hands of the obscurantist party, whose most influen- 
tial leader at that time was the prebendary of Rivaz. Now 
the country was again rent bj a fearful, inextinguishable 
hatred. The " Young Swiss" established a directing com- 
mittee at Martigny. On both sides, citizens armed for 
another conflict with citizens. The outbreak followed, 
when, in Berrossaz, a murderous attack upon an unarmed 
old man was avenged by gun-shots from the opponents 
(1st May, 1844). Npw, the state-council called forth 
troops, and, at the same time, requested Confederate inter- 
ference. The vorort Lucerne sent her reactionary state- 
jjf^cretary, Bernard Meyer, with a double mission : ostensi- 



S66 VALAIS JOINS [1844. 

bly a mediator, he was to advise the adoption of bloody 
measures to subdue the liberals. From this moment the 
state-council pursued their arbitrary course without regard 
to law or constitution. The opposition-members were ex- 
cluded from the sittings of the council ; but almost unlim- 
ited power was conferred on William of Kalbermatten, 
the partisan leader of Upper Yalais. At his command, 
masses of the landsturm and militia from Upper Valais 
rushed into Sion (18th May). Liberals from the western 
tithings, hastily assembled by the committee at Marti gny, 
had come from the other side to the gates of the city^ but 
could not maintain their ground against the overpowering 
force of their adversaries. Discouraged, they turned on 
their homeward march. But, on the dividing line be- 
tween St. Maurice and Martigny, where the torrent of the 
Trient, rushing from the rugged mountain-valley, cuts 
through the highway to precipitate itself into the Khone, 
a last fearful blow alreadv awaited them. For here, a 
strong force had been placed in ambush under command 
of Major Jost. With shouts, these so styled "Old Swiss" 
attacked the unprepared and straggling band of those who 
were returning to their homes. From the covered bridge, 
from behind rocks and bushes, flashed their death-bearing 
shots. Soon man grappled with man. They killed with 
the rage of tigers. Thirty bodies of the " Young Swiss" 
bled upon the ground ; the rest saved themselves over the 
swampy plain, or by swimming across the Ehone. But 
the conquerors followed them for some distance, and shock- 
ingly mutilated the already dead bodies. This was the 
fratricide on the Trient (20th May). It confirmed the vic- 
tory to the old-party. The leaders of Lower Yalais were 
outlawed and compelled to flee. Their work, the consti- 
tution of 1839, was annulled, and another established in 
its stead. By this, the former power of the priesthood was 
secured in exemption from all taxes and freedom from ac- 
countability to the civil tribunals. The task of instruction 
was confided to the Jesuits exclusively. The practice of 
private worship was no longer allowed to such Swiss cit- 
izens of the reformed faith as remained in the canton. 
Thus the assertion of the prebendary of Riyaz was made 



good : That Yalais must first of all be catbolic, then Swiss. 
The peace of death thenceforward prevailed in the Khone 
canton, which was now the seventh confederate of the 
Sonderbund. 



CHAPTER LXXVIII. 

THE JESUITS INVITED TO LUCERNE. FIRST FREE-CORPS EXPEDITION, 

[A. D. 1844.] 

As soon as the tidings of the butchery on the Trient 
spread through the Confederacy, thousands of voices were 
raised in denunciation of the followers of Loyola, as insti- 
gators of so horrid a crime. In the great-council of Aar- 
gau, Augustine Keller, who, full of noble daring, had first 
moved the suppression of the convents, now also stepped 
forward to propose the exclusion of that order from the 
Confederacy. In words of flame, he depicted their power 
and proceedings in the fatherland, and proved that their 
presence was incompatible with the public welfare. The 
great -council adopted his motion almost unanimously 
(29th May, 1844), and, in a circular letter, advised the other 
cantons of their proceeding. It found little favor, how- 
ever, with the governments, but much more with the peo- 
ple of Switzerland. At the great shooting-festival at Bale, 
where the four-hundredth anniversary of the hero-fight of 
St. Jacques was simultaneously celebrated, that proposi- 
tion was the exciting watchword of the day. 

Ever nearer approached the danger which threatened 
the Confederacy. Not only were Yalais and Freiburg and 
Schwyz, where the Jesuits had long since secured a foot- 
hold, almost slavishly subjected to their influence, but even 
the vorort Lucerne now showed herself inclined to take 
to her bosom those bold champions of the papal see. 

A large portion of her citizens had, indeed, long been 
struggling against such a design. In January, 1842, when 
it was proposed in the great -council to entrust to the 



358 FREE EiJtPRESSION" PROHIBITED. [l844 

Jesuits the direction of the higher academies, that assem- 
bly had decided in the negative. It was convincingly de- 
monstrated by enlightened men that several provisions of 
the constitution would thereby be violated. But Leu and 
Siegwart, the principal favorers of the Ultramontanes, did 
not allow themselves to be deterred by this. In order to 
persuade the people to support their plans, missions were 
commanded, and clever preachers of the order traversed 
the canton from place to place. Their eloquence, full of 
seductive images and fanatical hatred against those of a 
different persuasion, soon won over the ignorant masses. 
The followers of Loyola were regarded as the saviors and 
angels of the persecuted catholic faith. 

Many publications, however, zealously and loudly ex- 
posed their deceptive fallacies. Then the political leaders 
tried to muzzle the press by multiplied legal proceedings. 
When it would not be silenced, force was employed, and, 
by a law, the masterpiece of complete tyranny over opi- 
nion, every free expression by word or pen was prohibited 
(8th March, 1843). In vain did many noble men, for the 
last time, raise their warning voices against the destruction 
of this, to a republic, most precious jewel ; the submissive 
people permitted every thing. And now, in the territory 
of Lucerne, every opinion, except that of the rulers, was 
silenced. Even the newspapers of other cantons were for- 
bidden to enter: the borders were to be enclosed as by a 
brazen wall. Step by step the leaders advanced towards 
their object. Liberal young men were sought out and de- 
prived of employment; even the intercourse of trade with 
other districts was trammelled. Notwithstanding all this, 
however, when a second attempt was made, in November, 
1843, to introduce the order of Jesus, the government still 
again refused, though but by the casting vote of the presi- 
dent. The bishop of Bale also declared himself satisfied 
with the previous management of the higher academies^ 
and most of the clergy of the canton voted with him. 
Only by the triumph of the "old Swiss" in Yalais and 
the strengthening of the Sonderbund in consequence of the 
irresolution of their opponents, was the fuliiiraent of the 
designs of the churi)h-party secured. 



1844.] THE KNUTWYL-UNION. 859 

At the Diet of 1844, the old differences among the libe 
rals again manifested themselves. The deputy of the Ya 
laisian government which originated in blood-stained in- 
justice, was not forbidden to take his seat in the assembly. 
Bernard Meyer, who, as deputy of the Vorort, had advised 
that deed of violence, vindicated his ignominious conduct 
from the president's chair, without meeting with much op- 
position. When the proposition of Aargau respecting the 
Jesuits came under discussion. Bale-country, only, voted 
with that canton. This disposal of the pending question 
of the day emboldened the Lucerners to proceed in their 
long-prepared work. Kegardless of the lamentations of 
the fatherland, and in spite of the w^arnings and prayers 
of the best among their own party, the great-council, by 
seventy votes against twenty-four, decreed the invitation 
of the Jesuits (24th Oct.). Seven teachers of this society 
were to direct the youth in the study of the sciences. 
They were to be allowed to live and labor according to 
the rules of their order. For this purpose, considerable 
property and privileges were granted to them. Thus Lu- 
cerne sank entirely into a willing tool of the Roman court. 
The constitution was violated, and the old rights of the 
citizens seemed forever annihilated. A portion of the 
people still struggled courageously for the exercise of the 
veto. But in vain. The majority of the citizens, influ- 
enced by church-fanaticism, rose tumultuously in favor of 
the council's decree, and others, urged by threats, assented 
to what was inevitable. The whole country was rent by 
a deep schism ; brothers were inflamed against brothers, 
sons against fathers ; distrust of each other and fear for the 
future took possession of all minds. 

Under the influence of this division in their own can- 
ton and of the fearfully increasing excitement among the 
neighboring Confederates, some bold men determined to 
compel a reversal of the decree respecting the Jesuits by 
force of arms. A committee of liberals, formed two years 
before at the baths of Knutwyl, again bestirred themselves. 
Near and distant alliances were made ; and soon some op- 
posed the government openly. But the latter held heed- 
ful watch upon the movements among the people, and, 



86(3 IIIRESOLUTIO:^' AND DISPERStOlSf [l844. 

towards the end of November, introduced troops into the 
city for their protection. To prevent a surprise, they 
thought it advisable to remove into safer keeping the 
heavy artillery which, for years, had been confided to cer- 
tain places in the country. In the night of 5th December 
their emissaries entered the little city of Willisau, to take 
possession of the cannon in the castle. But the citizens, 
awakened by the noise and seizing their arms, courageous- 
ly drove them away. This occurrence precipitated the 
execution of the plans of the Knutwyl-union : all further 
delay now seemed dangerous. In the extremity of the 
occasion, on the 7th of December, they decided that an 
attack should take place the next day. The rising was to 
commence in the city and be supported by simultaneous 
advances from the country. Messengers hastened in every 
direction. Even the allies, in Aargau, Bale-country and 
Solothurn, were notified to assist. 

Notwithstanding the insufficient notice, bands of warlike 
men assembled in most places at the first call, and directed 
their march towards the city during the night. Long be- 
fore the morning of Sunday, 8th December, dawned, the 
men from Rothenburg had occupied the Emmen-bridge 
before the city. The united bands from Hitzkirch and 
Hochdorf joined them. They awaited a signal to enter 
the city. There, an inn in the neighborhood of the arse- 
nal had been taken possession of by the insurgents during 
the night. Towards morning, a large number of them also 
assembled on the Muhlenplatz. Some patrols of the gov- 
ernment troops were dispersed by musket-shots. But 
when a superior force of the military appeared under com- 
mand of lieutenant Jenni of Musswangen, the insurgents 
could no longer maintain their ground. In vain did a re- 
inforcement come from the suburbs. They were compelled 
to flee ; many were taken prisoners. 

At news of this, the little band on the Emme bridge 
also fell back to Rothenburg. But when the forces from 
Munster and Neudorf appeared, and, shortly afterwards, 
information was received of the advance of fresh bands 
from Wiggerthal and even of stout men from Aargau 
under lead of government-councillor Waller, new courage 



1844.] OF THE INSURGENTS. 861 

was infused iato all. The conspirators, now seven hun- 
dred in number, advanced a second time as far as the 
Emme. It was about 10 o'clock in the forenoon. Before 
taking a decisive step, they here halted, awaiting the men 
from Suhrenthal. Then the drums beat : major Schmidt 
of Hitzkirch, with the hastily-raised government troops, 
came from the valley of Emme towards the bridge, intend- 
ing to cross it by a hurried march. After a vain attempt 
at negotiation, a short fight took place. Schmidt and his 
troops were compelled to flee ; the blood of many fallen 
reddened the ground. Directly afterwards, the expected 
reinforcement from Suhrenthal appeared. But now, irre- 
solution took possession of the leaders. The boldest, in- 
deed, urged advance: the passage of the Eeuss, the en- 
trance to the city, lay open before them, and therein, 
notwithstanding the victory gained with so little exertion 
in the morning, helpless confusion prevailed. "Fortune 
favors the brave," said they. But others, frightened by 
the numerous fugitives from the city, and in apprehension 
of the landwehr (organized militia) which had been called 
out and was approaching under Leu, advised a retreat to 
Sursee. These carried the day. A large portion of the 
people at once turned on their backward march. And 
when the liberals from Aargau saw themselves almost en- 
tirely deserted, they hastened home over Munster. Their 
example was followed by the Solothurners and Olteners, 
who had come as far as Buron with two field-pieces. A 
band from Bale-country also, which, in consequence of the 
distance, only entered the Lucerne territory on the follow- 
ing night, immediately left it again when they found their 
expectations disappointed. Thus did this desperate under- 
taking fail, more from the want of resolution in its leaders, 
than from the power of its adversaries. 

But the more frightened the government of Lucerne had 
been, the more intoxicated were they now by victory. 
They determined to take a fearful revenge on the insur- 
gents. The communes from which the insurrection pro- 
ceeded were overwhelmed by armed forces. State-secre- 
tary Meyer and government-councillor Wendelin Kost 
piade a hunt after the liberals, Innocent and guilty were 
16 2a 



862 DR. ROBERT STEIGER. [l845. 

imprisoned in great numbers; among them Dr. Eobert 
Steiger, who was considered the principal promoter of 
what had taken phxce. Much real and personal property- 
was confiscated. Great distress spread over the land. 
Many hundreds fled from their homes into the neighboring 
cantons. All entreaties from the other governments, in 
favor of clemency, were in vain ; they were coldly rejected. 



CHAPTER LXXIX. 

REVOLUTION IN VAUD. SECOND FREE-CORPS EXPEDITION. 

[A. D. 1845.] 

The unsisterly feelings of Lucerne towards the Confed- 
erates, and her heartlessness to her own citizens, excited 
great indignation. An indescribable bitterness of heart, 
such as had never before been known, prevailed, from the 
Rhine to lake Leman. In Berne, Aargau, Bale-country, 
even in Zurich, meetings, attended by many thousands, 
were held in the open fields during the winter. At these 
appeared fugitives from Lucerne, beseeching assistance; 
and the sight of these men, driven from their homes and 
families, inflamed still more the indignation against their 
persecutors. Unions against the Jesuits were formed 
everywhere. Petitions, covered with numberless names, 
demanded of the great-councils the instant expulsion of 
the followers of Loyola. In case this was not decreed, it 
was to be feared that the people would rise a second time 
and try to effect it by violence. In this emergency, a new 
Diet was immediately summoned. In the mean while, 
Zurich, now the Yorort, endeavored to avert the imminent 
storm by mediation. But the words of her messengers of 
peace were not listened to by the rulers of Lucerne. 

As the great-councils were now discussing the instruc- 
tions to be given to their several deputies, the state-council 
of Yaud wished once more to attempt the path of concili- 
ation. Already thirty-two thousand electors of the canton 



1846.] HENRY DRUEY. S6S 

had voted for the entire expulsion of the order of Jesus 
from Switzerland ; but, regardless of this, a majority of 
the council agreed with Zurich in proposing to address a 
friendly confederate request to Lucerne : any more decided 
action appearing to them an encroachment on the sovereign 
rights of that canton as guaranteed by the Confederacy. 
The great-council accepted the proposition (13th Feb). 
But half-measures are always ruinous in times of great 
emergency. The people said : "He who is not with us is 
against us ;" and on the same evening the clash of arms 
resounded in the streets of Lausanne ; alarm-fires blazed 
from height to height along the lake ; ^ serious outbreak 
was prepared. The state-council, divided in itself, called 
for troops. They appeared ; but with them long trains of 
people, with whom they fully fraternized. The council, 
terrified, abdicated ; and, in their stead, the people held a 
session in arms, under the lime-trees of Montbenon. A 
new government was installed, under the lead of Henry 
Druey, who had drawn up the report of the minority m 
the state-council ; and the decree for the expulsion of the 
Jesuits was announced amid immense rejoicings (15tb 
Feb). Then the crowd returned peaceably to their homes. 
Notwithstanding this triumph of the popular will in 
Vaud, the tidings of which were welcomed by the greater 
part of the nation, no majorit}^ in favor of the removal ot 
the Jesuits could yet be united in the Diet at Zurich. To 
Aargau and Bale-country, which had stood alone in the 
previous year, nine other cantons and one-half were now 
added. Even a request to Lucerne for milder treatment ot 
her prisoners could not be agreed upon. The deputies of 
the Confederacy appeared helpless and undecided in this 
moment of most pressing danger to the fatherland. Only 
the notes received at this time from foreign poAvers, espe- 
cially from the French, minister Guizot, which, in the tone 
of a master to subject- vassals, forbade further free-corps 
expeditions, could rouse the national feelings of most of 
the deputies. Their reply, full of noble sentiments worthy 
of their ancestors, shone as a clear light through those 
daj^s of darkest gloom. However, as public right re- 
quired, t-Jie raisjag of free-corps was ppoliibited by thirteen 



B64: GENERAL SONNENBERG. [l84& 

votes. The deputies of the Sonderbund-cantoiis, who had 
earnestly urged this, rejoiced ; the others returned home 
with anxious hearts. 

A bloody encounter of the embittered parties had become 
unavoidable. Lucerne 'armed openly. General Sonnen- 
berg was recalled from the service of the king of Naples; 
the defensive troops in service were daily exercised ; the 
landwehr were freshly organized and trained ; armed assist- 
ance from the Urcantons and Zug was secured for the hour 
of need. And all this was done in the name of endan 
gered religion. The church-zeal of the people was in- 
flamed to indescribable rage by the priests and their assist- 
ants. Whoever would not act with them was imprisoned 
or compelled to flee. The again menaced citizens, in 
bands, sought refuge in the neighboring cantons. 

But here, the excitement of men's minds had reached 
its highest pitch. Since the deputies of the Confederacy 
had separated, unable to loose the tangled knot, a deter- 
mination had been formed to cut it with the edge of the 
sword. In spite of the prohibition, new free-corps were 
zealously raised. By day and night, during the month of 
March, messengers hurried in every direction, strengthen- 
ing the bonds between the unions. Leagues were made, 
weapons prepared, accomplices armed. Thousands were 
seized with an inexpressible enthusiasm to free the father- 
land from her enemies and to restore the fugitives to their 
homes. This dazzling object, v/hich they expected to ac- 
complish almost without a contest, blinded their under- 
standings to the injustice of their violent proceedings, so 
fraught with destruction to the Confederacy. Even the 
governments of Berne, Aargau and Bale-country, where 
the expedition was prepared, carried away by the popular 
feeling, no longer attempted to oppose the current. Thus 
it happened that, when the cannon were taken away from 
the arsenal at Liestal, from the fortress at Aarburg and 
from the tower at Nidau, every remonstrance on the part 
of the government-commissioners proved of no avail. The 
leagues hurried in great numbers towards Zofingen, where 
i\\e principal rendezvous was appointed. The Bernese 
jjurtisans assembled at Huttwyl, on the western border of 



1845.] tJLRiCii oc£ts^isSE:lJ;r. '665 

Lucerne. The chief-command of these was given to Ul- 
rich Ochsenbein of Nidau, who had, on a former occasion^ 
led the way into the territory of Lucerne. 

Before daybreak of 80th March, the imposing train, in 
military array, with banners flying, left the gates of Zofin- 
gen. On the evening before, the vanguard had advanced 
as fiXT as the villages of Dagmersellen and Altishofen, and 
distributed printed addresses to the people of Lucerne. 
The plan was: to turn the government-forces posted on the 
lake of Sempach and the Reuss, to divide them, and to 
reach the city, the principal object, as quickly as possible. 
This was done. The free-corps advanced by a day-march, 
through ways which the enemy had not guarded. At Ettis- 
wyl, the Bernese troop joined them from Huttwyl. Some 
bands of the landwehr were seen in the distance ; but the 
invaders first came to a fight near Hellbuhl, with a body of 
troops which retreated at the first volley. It was a bad 
omen, however, that the citizens of the canton nowhere 
joined the expedition, as had been expected. When they 
reached the Emme, the force divided. The smaller por- 
tion hurried to the bank of the stream, swollen by the 
spring-rains, to make a sham attack upon the baths at 
Rothen on the other side. Here they were unexpectedly 
assailed from a masked battery. Thrown into confusion 
and without a position which they could maintain against 
the superior force, they retreated in the afternoon to Hell- 
buhl, vainly expecting further orders. The larger body, 
in the mean while, in spite of heavy discharges from field- 
pieces on the other side, had stormed the half-covered 
bridge near Thorenberg, and now advanced across the 
steep ridge against the churchyard of Littau. General 
Sonnenberg had, in great haste, called in a portion of his 
scattered forces to defend the capital-city, and had also 
received auxiliaries from the forest-cantons. He had 
stationed some companies of Lucerners and Unterwaldeners 
on the mountain-plain of Littau to resist the invaders. 
But the latter, outflanking them, at once forced them to a 
hurried flight. Now the free-corps advanced without fur- 
ther opposition. By nightfall, they occupied the Gutsch, 
a spur of the mountain over the city, and the clump of 

2g* 



B66 DEFEAT AT MALTERS. [1S45. 

houses at Ladeli in the valley of the Reuss, close to the 
city-gate. At this moment, the fate of Lucerne and^f the 
Confederacy wavered in the balance of Providence. Con- 
fusion and terror prevailed within the city ; the govern- 
ment prepared for flight. A few cannon-shots from the 
Gutsch would probably have occasioned a surrender. But 
in the councils of Grod it was otherwise determined. A 
dangerous indecision took possession of the hitherto vic- 
torious invaders. Tired by their long day's-march, hungry, 
without military union as a whole, they lost order and 
presence of mind. Those on the Gutsch remained faithful 
at their posts, while most of the others, fearful of being 
surrounded by the enemy, retreated in the night to Littau. 
Their pusillanimity increased ; orders were no longer 
obeyed; all discipline was at an end. The storm-bells 
sounded from all the church- towers ; the alarm-signals of 
the landsturm blazed on all the mountain -tops. Those 
who had been waiting since evening at Hellbuhl, as they 
received no tidings whatever from the force that had ad- 
vanced, had already commenced their backward march, and, 
though attacked on the way by the enemy's troops whom 
they bravely repulsed, regained Zofingen in good order on 
the following day. Even the leaders of the body on the 
heights of Littau gradually dispersed during the dark- 
ness. Their cause was hopelessly lost by reason of the in- 
creasing disorder. Finally, the whole force, conquered by 
destiny, not by the enemy, sought safety in flight. At 
midnight, the mob of fugitives, with field -pieces, came to 
Malters. Here they received a murderous fire from the 
windows and the rear of the houses. In spite of their 
despairing resistance, death so thinned their ranks that, 
panic-struck, they were obliged to disperse. Bloody bodies 
of men and horses covered the highways. Those who 
escaped death, fell into the hands of the armed peasants. 
The same result attended separate conflicts. When the 
morning of the 1st of April dawned, Sonnenburg also 
recovered courage, and, from the city, attacked the ad- 
vanced posts which had remained on the Gutsch and at 
Ladeli. Their spirited defence was useless. A small body 
of them did indeed cut their way through and after many 



1845.] KANSOM OF THE PRISOlSrERS. 867 

perils, wearied almost to death, succeeded in reaching the 
Bernese frontier, at Melchnau ; but the rest were over- 
powered. Thousands of fugitives now wandered about in 
the woods and mountains, unacquainted with the country, 
without food, having thrown away their arms, and sought 
for safety. After them rushed the hordes of the fanatical 
landstarm, baiting and hunting them like wild beasts. 
Shocking cruelties were practised on some of the prisoners. 
Others, bound in gangs with ropes, were driven in savage 
triumphal procession to Lucerne. Here, no prison was 
large enough to contain them all. They were shut up in 
the Franciscan and Jesuit churches ; the leaders imprisoned 
in the city-tower. Nearly four thousand had marched on 
the preceding day, confident of victory ; hardly more than 
the half returned. Over two hundred had met their death 
from the balls of the enemy's cannon, or the fatal clubs of 
the landsturm, or in the waters of the Emme ; eighteen 
hundred and thirty- six prisoners, badly fed, lay on straw 
in the jails of Lucerne. A higher power had condemned 
their rash undertaking. 

As soon as the news of the defeat of the free-corps was 
received, the Yorort ordered out a large armed force to se- 
cure peace in the fearfully excited fatherland. The canton 
of Lucerne was surrounded by them in deep lines. The 
Diet, summoned by expresses, met immediately (5 April). 
The sorrowing nation turned their eyes towards them, as 
saviors in this unexampled misfortune. But in vain : more 
contemptuously than ever did the deputies of the victori- 
ous canton reject all entreaties for reconciliation and mercy. 
The victory, now in their hands, was to be used as a sword 
of destruction to annihilate their opponents. A few weeks 
afterwards, however, when the government of Lucerne re- 
quired money and the maintenance of so many prisoners 
became too expensive, they began to treat about the ran- 
som. This amounted to 350,000 Swiss francs,* of which 
Solothurn contributed 20,000, Bale-country 35,000, Berne 
70,000, Aargau 200,000, and other cantons 25,000. In 
addition to this the Confederacy had to pay 150,000 francs, 
war-expenses. In the last days of April, the released free- 
companions finally returned to their weeping families. 
* The Swiss franc was equal to about 28 of our cents. 



368 AVOYER NEUHAUS. [l846- 



CHAPTER LXXX. 

PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES. 
[A. D. 1845 and 1846.] 

The tidings of the destruction of the free-corps had 
shaken all liberal Switzerland like a thunderbolt. The 
fruit of all the labors of long years seemed lost in a mo- 
ment. And woe to the conquered ! Everywhere their 
opponents rose exultingly and overwhelmed them with 
scoffs and curses. Here and there preparations were even 
made for a counter-revolution. The ferment of a second 
insurrection was already at work in the free-bailiwicks of 
Aargau, but when the troops of Zurich, suddenly ordered 
out by the Diet, unexpectedly crossed the Reuss from 
Ottenbach, and the roll of their drums was heard near 
Muri, the reawakened desires were at once extinguished. 
Still more was this the case, when the government of Aar- 
gau was protected by the bayonets of her neighbors, and 
when, with noble candor respecting past errors, it paid 
the ransom for the prisoners out of the state-treasury, and 
at the same time forgave all offences committed in conse- 
quence of the former convent-troubles. 

Not so quickly was the storm of popular commotion dis- 
pelled in Berne. Here, those who returned from Lucerne 
met with a chilling reception from the leaders of the peo- 
ple. Avoyer Neuhaus especially, who, by his previous 
inactivity, had rather favored than impeded the free-corps 
expedition, now gave utterance to extreme disapproval of 
it. He went still further. Officials who had taken part 
in the expedition were removed, foreign leaders of the pop- 
ular unions expelled from the canton, and some journals, 
which were active in their opposition to the government, 
persecuted with endlessly accumulating law-suits. Such 
proceedings occasioned great bitterness of feeling. This 
statesman, shortly before loved and admired by all, sank 
rapidly in popular estimation. His friends angrily turned 
jiheir backs upon him- his former enemies flocked closely 



-1846] DISAFi^ECflON OF TItK CLERGr. 36{* 

around him. And as, at the same time, many instances 
of mal-administration came to light, the cry for a new and 
popular constitution increased. Those who had been de- 
feated on the Jesuit-question, hoped to recover their influ- 
ence by means of this. Long and bitter was the struggle 
of the parties, in the public prints as well as in the council- 
chamber and in the meetings of the unions. When ISTeu- 
haus saw that the revision of the constitution would inev- 
itably take place, he insisted that it must be accomplished 
by the great- council, as the only competent authority. His 
opponents, on the other hand, demanded a constituent- 
council. The people voted decidedly in favor of the latter 
(1 Feb., 1846). This occasioned great irritation among 
those who had before possessed the power. They declared 
that this decision of the people was an outrageous violation 
of the existing constitution, and many of them abdicated 
their ofl&ces. Threats, even, were employed. But the 
choice of the constituent-council proceeded without distur- 
bance, and their deliberations began. The once honored 
name of Neuhaus faded away, and to his former elevation 
was raised Ochsenbein, whose statesmanly work soon ob- 
scured the remembrance of the military misfortunes suffered 
in the free-corps expedition. The new constitution was 
elaborated by him and his friends. When it was accepted 
by the majority of the people (13 July), bonfires, from the 
Stock horn to the slopes of the Jura, proclaimed this first 
victory in the cause which had been considered lost the 
year before. 

In Yaud, also, a grudge remained on account of the 
mine which had been sprung in the contest about the Jes- 
uits. After the decision of February, 1845, the work on 
the constitution did indeed proceed peacefully, till the 
news of the defeat on the Emme awakened fresh hopes in 
the discontented. The disaffection of many of the clergy 
towards the government, which showed itself no less un- 
favorably disposed towards them, occasioned a dangerous 
schism in the canton. When the state-council issued an 
official proclamation respecting the business of the consti- 
tution, and sent it to the clergy with directions to read 
it from the pulpits, many of them refused beforehand to 
16* 



370 MONNARD OF LAUSANNE. [1845- 

do so. They said: "Not only is it at variance with ex- 
isting laws, but the dignity of God's worship would be 
diminished thereby." In vain did the government attempt 
to enlighten and to pacify them; on the appointed Sunday 
(3d August), forty clergymen omitted the reading. Such 
contumacy could not be passed over unnoticed. The mat- 
ter was referred to the clerical Classes for investigation, 
and at the same with this, numerous complaints respecting 
the private religious exercises termed oratorios, which were 
held by several clergymen and had quite often given rise 
to scandalous scenes. But when the Classes almost unani- 
mously justified their brethren in office and the excite- 
ment in the country increased, the government decreed the 
temporary suspension of the recusants from their functions. 
Now the gauntlet was openly thrown down between the 
ministers of the state and those of the church. The clergy 
of the canton met in the city-hall of Lausanne for a solemn 
conference (11th and 12th November). It was opened 
with singing and prayer. Numerous speakers, among 
them Monnard, before honorably known as a deputy to 
the Swiss Diets, depicted in burning words the injustice 
which church-freedom had long suffered, and complained 
of the arbitrary encroachments of the civil poAver. At 
this moment of great excitement, 153 clergymen signed a 
pledge to surrender their benefices at once. Many may 
have been urged by their consciences to this step ; others, 
probably, by the secret hope that the people would turn in 
their favor. In this difficult emergency, Druey, the pres- 
ident of the s Gate-council, asked the representatives for 
extraordinary powers. They were granted. Once more 
an attempt was made at reconciliation, and when this 
failed, an immediate rigorous removal from office of all 
the signers of the pledge took place. The oratorios were 
closed at the same time. There was great excitement 
among the people at this. Many blamed, more applauded 
the decree of the state-council. Rough outbreaks of the 
people's anger against the deposed clergymen and their 
adherents often occurred. The irritation of men's minds 
lasted a long while. This matter made a great noise 
throughput Switzerland and through all Europe. The 



-ld46.J ;fUDGE AMMANJ?. 371 

clergymen received approving and encouraging addresses 
from clergy and laity of many foreign lands, and even 
from king Frederic William of Prussia. The interest taken 
in the church-dispute of Vaud was only lost, by degrees, in 
the overpowering impression caused by after events. 

But the painful consequences of the free-corps expedi- 
tion were felt most keenly by Lucerne herself Here, since 
that event, terror, under the name of holy religion, ruled 
more severely than before. After the prisoners from the 
other cantons had been released, still harsher measures 
were employed towards those of her own territory. Ex- 
amining-judge Ammann from Thurgau was charged with, 
the prosecution of the endless suits against them. The 
curse of many unhappy families still hangs about his 
name: for bare suspicion was enough to bring confiscation 
and fines, imprisonment and severe suffering upon the 
heads of disliked opponents. No page in the history of 
Switzerland is stained with blacker sins in the administra- 
tion of public justice. And amid the lamentations of the 
whole nation, the fathers of the society of Jesus made their 
entrance into this canton whelmed in blood and tears 
(29th June, 1845). But shortly after this took place came 
the news : " Kobert Steiger is free !" He had been 
again taken prisoner in the second free-corps expedition. 
Against him, as the principal leader, the anger of his ad- 
versaries was most fierce. The court condemned him to 
be shot. But when the most touching entreaties in his 
behalf were received from individuals and from govern- 
ments, from the Vorort, from the bishops of Solothurn 
and Freiburg, even from foreign embassadors, the gov- 
ernment of Lucerne decided not to execute the sentence of 
death but to render tbis dangerous man forever innocu- 
ous. He was to expiate his offence by confinement for 
life in a Sardinian fortress. But three land-yagers, de- 
voted to him, rescued him by night through the walls of 
the Kesseltower (19th June), and brought him in safety to 
Zurich. A loud cry of joy greeted the success of this en- 
terprise from all countries, even from the United States of 
America. But the tidings of another occurrence excited 
abhorrence in even a greater degree. The man of the 



372 MUilDEH OF LElti [1846- 

people, Joseph Leu of Ebersoll, the most infliietitial favorei 
of the Jesuits, was found dead in his bed, shot through 
the heart (night of 19th July). The consequence of 
this crime was almost as horrible as the crime itself. For 
the rulers of Lucerne laid to the charge of the whole party 
of their opponents the unrighteous deed which a single in- 
dividual had perpetrated. A fresh course of prosecutions 
and imprisonments ensued, which was continued for years. 
Examining-judge Ammann had plenty of work. But 
Leu's name, thenceforth, shone among the popular saints ; 
incessant pilgrimages to his grave were made by the pious. 
Thus his death did more to strengthen his work than he 
could have done if living. 



CHAPTER LXXXI. 

THE CRISIS APPROACHES. 
[A. D. 1846 to 1847.] 

In the mean while the Sonderbund of the seven cantons 
was knit more and more closely. But the world had as 
yet only conjectures, rather than certainty, about their de- 
signs. The leaders were seen to meet frequently, but no 
information respecting their deliberations transpired. Men 
knew of the missions of the Jesuit-preachers, of the nume- 
rous assemblages for devotion, the pilgrimages and other 
priestly machinery to excite popular fanaticism ; they saw 
the continuous military preparations ; but the object of all 
this remained in doubt. Then the veil of the secrecy sud- 
denly fell, and the transactions of the conference at the 
baths of Rothen were unexpectedly revealed. The great- 
council of Freiburg at last discussed in open session the 
matter of their connection with the Sonderbund. The ex- 
istence of a vast conspiracy against the unity and safety of 
the Confederacy was now apparent. The vorort Zurich 
immediately questioned Lucerne respecting the nature of 
this dangerous compact ; and, when the answer removed 



-1847.J JAMES FAZY. 873 

all doubt, required the cantons to give instructions on thia 
point to the next Diet. But, at the regular yearly session 
of the latter, no twelve votes could be united for any de- 
cision. They could not agree : either upon an edict to 
expel the Jesuits, or to remodel the confederate compact 
according to the spirit of the times, or to dissolve the Son- 
derbund. Zurich, Berne, Grlarus, Schaffhausen, Grisons, 
Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Yaud, with Bale-country and 
Outer- Appenzell, did indeed come forward with determi- 
nation to assert the rights and honor of the fatherland. 
Against them stood the catholic seven in immovable ob 
stinacy. The rest were rendered powerless by division. 
The deputy of Geneva, a docile scholar of the French min- 
ister Guizot, openly testified his inclination towards the 
party of the Sonderbund. He even urged the plan to ap- 
point a committee of representatives from the cantons as 
supervisors to the future vorort Berne, from whose bold- 
ness some decisive action was feared. 

Thereat a wild storm burst forth at Geneva. The union 
of the Third of March was still strong. The members 
now roused themselves to fresh activity. When the coun- 
cil of representatives issued new instructions in accordance 
with the sentiments of their deputy, the minority pro- 
tested, left the council-hall and called upon the people to 
decide (3d October). The citizens hastily assembled on 
the square of the Temple, in spite of a stormy rain. Here, 
the champion of liberty, James Fazy, stood forth, and, 
with triumphant eloquence, exposed the treachery in- 
tended against the Confederacy. Amid loud shouts of the 
crowd, the decision of the council was declared null, and a 
committee of the people charged to draw up a new consti- 
tution (5th October). Then the government hurriedly 
prepared to quell the outbreak. But the liberals betook 
themselves to St. Gervais, the little city on the other side 
of the Ehone, and there threw up barricades during the 
night. A requirement from the state-council to demolish 
these and to surrender their leaders, was decisively re- 
jected. When the time allowed (till three o'clock in the 
afternoon of 7th October) had elapsed, the government- 
t;roop3 brought their field-pieces to the bank of the river 



'ij74: DISIUKBANCES IN [1846- 

and directed a heavy connonade against St. Gervais. It 
was answered by rifle-shots from the windows and roofs of 
the opposite houses. An attempt of the troops to storRi 
the bridge was repelled by the bravery of their opponents 
Finally, after a bloody fight of three hours the troops re 
turned sullenly to their barracks. The excitement still 
increased. On the next day, the burghers of the larger 
city also deserted the government ; then the latter ab- 
dicated. The victors of St. Gervais joyfully crossed the 
half-burned bridge to unite with their fellow-citizens. A 
great assembly on the place-Molard installed a provisional 
government under the lead of Fazy. The accession of 
Geneva to the liberal cantons in the Jesuit and Sonder- 
bund question was at the same time unanimously decided 
upon by the people. 

On the other hand, however, a movement in the canton 
of Freiburg, occurring almost immediately after, did not 
produce a similar result. Here, the citizens of the reformed 
district of Morat had already, in June, addressed to the 
Diet fruitless complaints respecting the decision of the 
great-council in favor of Lucerne. Now, encouraged by 
the tidings of success at Geneva, they presented fresh pe- 
titions urging withdrawal from the Sonderbund. The 
patriots of the French districts of Estavayer, Surpierre and 
Dompierre also joined those of Morat. In the popular as- 
semblies, the inimical feeling of a large portion of their 
inhabitants against the Jesuits was manifested more openly 
than before. When some of the principal speakers in 
those assemblies were arrested on that account by the po- 
lice, they were rescued by a tumultuous mob, singing lib- 
erty-songs. But the government, assured of the fidelity 
of the catholic, German, portion of the country, assembled 
troops. The insurrection now burst forth, but it wanted 
order and union in itself. A body of insurgents marched 
from Morat against the capital-city; another from Esta- 
vayer (7th Jan., 1847) ; but they soon dispersed, all chance 
of success being destroyed by their own imbecility and 
want of prudence. The troops of the government imme- 
diately occupied the seditious districts. Here, also, prose- 



-1847.] FREIBURG AND BERNE. 875 

cutions and imprisonments took place. The Sonderbund 
enjoyed a new triumph. 

Even in recently-quieted Berne, the discontented sought, 
about this time, to open the way for a counter-revolution. 
The opportunity seemed favorable, when the government 
appointed the free-thinking minister. Dr. Zeller of Tubin- 
gen, as professor in the university. Immediately, in op- 
position to him, as in the time of Strauss at Zurich, a loud 
cry of danger to religion rose from ecclesiastical and laical 
opponents over city and country. But it was soon seen 
that the attempt was powerless against the steady persist- 
ency of the Bernese people. The great-council passed 
over the motion presented to them to the order of the day 
(24th March), and the opposed professor entered upon his 
office without further disturbance. 

St. Gallen, also, had her day of trial. Her great-council 
had for many years been without influence, almost null, 
in Confederate matters : for parties were always so equally 
divided, almost to a man, that a valid decision could sel- 
dom be obtained. Now, a new choice of members, accord- 
ing to the constitution, drew near. There was a hot elec- 
tion-contest in all the communes, as to whether the cause 
of the common fatherland or of the Sonderbund should 
prevail. The priest-party made great efforts to secure a 
preponderance of votes. The eyes of all in the Confede- 
racy were turned towards this canton, upon whose cast the 
result again depended, as in the time of the convent-ques- 
tion. It was in favor of the honor and rights of the fixther- 
land. The catholic district of Gaster turned the scale by 
the votes of her liberal citizens (2d May). Thereat loud 
rejoicing was heard throughout Switzerland, for now 
brightened the hope of a union of the majority of the can 
tons in coming eventful days. 



376 WARLIKE PREPARATION'S. [l84Y 



CHAPTER LXXXII. 

THE SONDERBUND-WAR. 
[A. D. 184T.] 

Calamity after calamity afflicted the fatherland. Two 
winters of severe scarcity had turned the cares of govern- 
ment and people almost exclusively to the relief of the 
necessitous. But a more imperious anxiety soon over- 
powered all others. In the summer of 1847, Lucerne, 
with her co-leaguers, prepared for war more openly than 
ever. A committee of war from the seven cantons was 
now actually established; stores of arms and munitions 
were collected in great quantities ; the work on the fortifi- 
cations at the frontiers of the Sonderbund-cantons and at 
some points within their territories was pressed by day 
and night ; their active defensive force incessantly exer- 
cised in arms ; the landsturm disciplined ; and Ulrich of 
Salis-Soglio invited from Grisons to take the chief com- 
mand of their formidable army. If any one asked the 
object of such unusual preparations, the answer was : " To 
repel a new free-corps attack." And yet everybody knew 
that such a thing could not again occur, for the bloody 
lesson on the Emme had been more effectual than all the 
prohibitions of the governments. The real intentions of 
the Sonderbunders were no longer a secret, however. 
Their scornful defiance betrayed them: they prepared for' 
open rebellion against the Confederacy. The rule of the 
liberal governments was to be put an end to by force of 
arms, and the recent constitutions abolished. Into their 
schemes, as afterwards discovered, also entered a plan for 
the partition of the territories of Aargau, Berne, Zurich 
and other cantons. Jesuitism, everywhere predominant, 
was to give laws to all Switzerland for the future. The 
conspirators hardly entertained a doubt of the success of 
their designs. They reckoned upon division and conse- 
quent impotency among the other cantons, while they con- 
fidently relied on the invincibility of their own people, 



1847.] ARMS FROM AUSTRIA. 377 

united by identical fanaticism. They even counted, trea- 
sonably, on foreign assistance. The courts of Vienna and 
Paris, favoring, their plans, had already forwarded tlie ac- 
complishment by supplies of arms. The embassador of 
France, Bois le Comte, to sound men's minds and to ad- 
vance the undertaking, busily travelled through the can- 
tons. But the soul of the whole was avoyer Constant! ne 
Siegwart of Lucerne. He, by birth a foreigner, for his 
own ambitious purposes staked the happiness of his new 
country, to which he felt no attachment, upon the perilous 
hazards of a game of chance. 

The Diet assembled at Berne early in July. Never had 
their proceedings been expected with so much anxiety 
and never did they fulfil their duties with more manly de- 
cision. A series of important decrees proclaimed to the 
nation the intention of the liberal cantons, twelve and two 
halves, to meet the danger with bold determination. And 
the tutelar genius of the fatherland stretched over them his 
strength-giving arms. At the very first sitting, the matter 
of the catholic Sonderbund was discussed. Noble Con- 
federates, especially Furrer of Zurich, Kern of Thurgau 
and Naff of St. Gallen, demonstrated unanswerably the il- 
legality of its existence, as well as the danger to the father- 
land with which it was fraught. In vain did the seven 
strive against them ; in vain did Bale-city, Neuchatel and 
Inner-Appenzell attempt to mediate ; it was solemnly 
decreed : " The Sonderbund is dissolved." (20th July.) 
When, shortly after, the news came that a quantity of 
arms sent by Austria for the Urcantons had been seized in 
Ticino, not only was this approved of, but the seizure of 
all future consignments of a similar character ordered 
throughout the whole circumference of the Confederacy. 
At the same time, orders were sent to the Sonderbund-can- 
tons to desist from their warlike preparations, lest the 
peace of the country should be thereby endangered (11th 
Aug.). Then Greneva proposed: that the names of all 
Confederate staff-officers who remained in the service of 
the Sonderbund, should be erased from the army-list. 
This also was decreed. Finally, the Jesuit-cantons were 
requested to dismiss the order, and its further admittance 

2h* 



378 THE CANTONS DECIDE. [l847 

(into other cantons) was prohibited (3d Sept.). After ac- 
complishing this work, the deputies adjourned for six 
weeks, to aw^ait the fulfilment of their decrees and to take 
the sense of the nation. 

The gloomy stillness which precedes the bursting of a 
storm lowered over Helvetia. The people and councils of 
the cantons met, to lay their last word, for or against, in 
the balance. In Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, the lead- 
ers announced to the general assemblies that freedom and 
religion would be alike destroyed, if the Confederates w^ere 
not withstood, as Austria had formerly been at Morgarten. 
A furious shout on all sides approved their course. It 
was almost unanimously decided to hold fast by the Son- 
derbund ; those who opposed were threatened with punish- 
ment in life or property. The same was the case in Valais 
and Freiburg. Zug alone, divided in herself, began to 
waver. In the great-council of Lucerne, only seven wor- 
thy men dared to advise loyalty to the Confederacy. With 
open contempt of the Diet, the government here continued 
its military preparations; the frontiers were, by degrees, 
entirely closed against those without. Many, favorable to 
the Confederacy, again fled from their homes before the 
renewed prosecutions. The friends of the Sonderbund 
began to stir in the other cantons also. But all their en- 
deavors to provoke confusion and disunion were vain. 
After the great-council of Zurich first declared their de- 
cision to insist on the fulfilment of the Diet's decrees by 
force of arms if need should be, one canton after another 
of the majority of the Confederacy courageously followed 
the example. St. Gallen w^as the last. Here the priest- 
party hoped, even at the last moment, to give a turn to 
affairs by a rising of the catholic population. But dis- 
jointed attempts at so unrighteous an enterprise w^ere 
speedily put down. Then, after four days of a protracted, 
excited and memorable session, in which the parties mea- 
sured their greatest strength against each other, it was 
decided here also : that the way of conciliation should first 
be tried ; but, if this proved impracticable, that the recu- 
sants should be brought back to their duty by force of 
arms. Thus the required number of twelve cantonal votes 



184'?.] MESSENGERS OF PEACE. S79 

was again complete ; respecting wliicli many had hitherto 
doubted. But the nation which surrenders in the hour of 
danger no longer deserves to exist. 

Now, the Diet met again (18 Oct.). They were still dis- 
posed to conciliation. They sent some of their own mem- 
bers as messengers of peace to all the seven refractory 
cantons to move the hearts of the rulers. They solemnly 
assured the people in a proclamation : " The rights and 
freedoms inherited from your fathers shall remain unal- 
tered, your faith untouched. The Diet desire no oppres- 
sion of their Confederate brothers, no nullifying of cantonal 
sovereign tjT-, no forced change in the present Confederate 
compact. But the existence of a separate league, endan- 
gering the welfare of the whole, can never be allowed. 
Dissolve it, while there is yet time!" (20 Oct.) Yain 
efforts ! As the deputies of the seven cantons had foretold : 
the messengers were rejected with scorn ; even the circu- 
lation of the proclamation was strictly forbidden. Zug 
alone listened to milder counsels. Her deputy to the Diet 
at Berne endeavored to restore union. So, finally, did 
Bale-city. But every endeavor failed before the obstinacy 
of the Sonderbunders. Now that all attempts at reconcili- 
ation had proved fruitless, the assembly of the Confederacy 
proceeded to serious measures. They issued an order for 
troops, to the number of 50,000 only at first, to secure the 
peace of the country against the continued military prepa- 
rations of the Sonderbunders. William Henry Dufour of 
Geneva was chosen by them as commander-in-chief, Frederic 
Frey-Herose of Aargau as chief of the staff. All this was 
violently opposed by the deputies of the seven, who in- 
sisted that it was a commencement of hostilities. But the 
Diet remained firm in their decision. Then rose Bernard 
Meyer of Lucerne in behalf of the Sonderbund-deputies, 
and said: " The moment has come for us to depart from 
the Diet." Invoking God's name, he cast upon their oppo- 
nents all present and future responsibility for coming events. 
Then the seven deputies left the hall of session and the city 
of the Confederacy (29 Oct.). The bond of century-old 
fidelity seemed forever broken. But, strong in their good 
right, the other deputies continued their deliberations. 



S80 THE COKFEDERATE ARMr. [lS4T. 

On the fourth of November it was solemnly decreed : to 
dissolve the Sonderbund by force of arms. A proclama 
lion announced this to the people and to the army. Now, 
the statesmen had done their part ; the drawn sword must 
give the fatal blow. 

In the mean while, grey -haired Dufour had already be- 
gun to assemble his force. The people, with ready and 
earnest minds, left their firesides to range themselves under 
his banner. Bitter though the task might be to march 
against their brothers of the same country, each, neverthe- 
less, answered the call of duty with determination. Only 
in the bailiwicks of Aargau, and more violently in some 
catholic districts of St. Gallen, were attempts again made 
to resist. But the insurrection was quickly repressed. 
Even Bale-city, though deh\ying, now sent a battery to the 
Confederate army. Inner- Appenzell, on the other hand, 
and Neuchatel, refused all participation, and declared them- 
selves neutral. Yet the government of Neuchatel secretly 
granted passage through her territory to a quantity of arms 
sent by France and intended for Freiburg. They were, 
however, discovered by the patriotic mountaineers, carried 
over into the territory of Vaud and there retained. , Some 
bold Vaudois then seized the steamboat, in order to cruise 
upon the waters of the lake of Neuchatel and prevent any 
more such smuggling. In spite of the refusal of these can- 
tons, the force of the Confederates quickly swelled to more 
than ninety thousand men, who were formed into six 
divisions, under the lead of officers of proved experience. 
Two hundred and sixty pieces of heavy artillery were at 
their command. The speedy preparations, the host of able 
officers, the spirit of discipline which prevailed in so great 
an army, astonished foreigners doubtful of the result. 

The Sonder bunders had called out their forces even ear- 
lier. Volunteers and deserters from the other cantons, 
foreign officers also, among them even the Austrian prince 
Schvvarzeuberg, had joined them. The greater part of 
their troops were filled with raging enthusiasm. The blood- 
thirstiness evinced so long beforehand by the self-styled 
avenging corps of examining-judge Amrnann, was horrible. 
All means were employed to excite fanaticism. The papal 



1847.] GENERAL DUFOUR. 881 

nuncio himself blessed the banners of those going to the 
trontiers, as formerly, before the fratricidal war of Villraer- 
gen. Jesuits were appointed field-chaplains. Blessed am- 
ulets were distributed to the hordes of the landsturm, to 
protect them from shot and sword, and preachers from the 
pulpits assured all the people of the assistance of the Virgin 
Mary to preserve them from death and make their victory 
sure. 

Even before the Confederate army was fully arrayed, 
blood already flowed. On the same day that the proclama- 
tion for the armed exe^-ution of the Diet's decree was 
published at Berne, the outposts of the Sonderbunders 
penetrated over the heights of the St. Gotthard into the 
territory of Ticino. Two of their leaders paid for their te- 
merity with their lives. 

Dufour delayed the onset for a long while. Disposed to 
carry on the war with extreme forbearance, he said to his 
soldiers in an order of the day : "I place under your pro- 
tection, children, women, old men, and the ministers of the 
church. You must come from this conflict victoriously, 
but without stain." Then he surrounded the territories 
of the Sonderbund with an immense chain of troops, closing 
every exit. The recusants were to be brought back to 
their duty more by the determination displayed in the 
overpowering force than by bloody violence. The soldiers 
shared the humane disposition of their general. The ad- 
vanced posts handed their drinking-flasks to each other 
over the boundary-lines. 

While the principal force of the Confederates marched 
first to subdue Freiburg, the Sonderbunders began the 
assault from Lucerne upon comparatively unprotected Aar- 
gau. The village of Kleindietwyl, the outer post in the 
free-bailiwicks, was unexpectedly surprised by them, and 
the advanced guard there, forty in number, taken prison- 
ers and carried in triumphal procession to Lucerne (10th 
Nov.). This success encouraged them to bolder attempts. 
A portion of the people of the free -bailiwicks seemed only 
to await a favorable moment in order to declare openly for 
the cause of the Sonderbund. Salis-Soglio therefore made 
iwcursions into this territory at two separate points simul- 



382 ULRICH OF SALIS-SOGLIO. [1841 

taneously, on the morning of 12th Nov. One body of 
troops, commanded by himself, advanced by a forced 
march, over Sios and Merenschwanden, towards Lunnern, 
where the Confederates had thrown a bridge of boats across 
the Eeuss. But the small troop of Zurichers stationed 
there maintained their post with old Swiss valor. They 
destroyed the bridge under a storm of balls and compelled 
the enemy, three times their number, to retreat. No bet- 
ter success attended the other expedition under colonel 
Elgger. He ascended the Lindenberg, and surprised two 
Aargau companies at dinner in Geltwyl. But these also, 
quickly falling into ranks repelled the attack after a hard 
fight ; so that the Lucerners fled back to Hitzkircherthal, 
in great disorder. On the same day, a third attack was 
made from Beromunster upon Menzikon and Keinach. 
But the Aargau-landwehr opposed the invaders with such 
courage and vigor that the latter retreated at once. Thus 
the bloody ventures of that day failed everywhere. 

In the mean while, Dufour had directed his principal force 
upon Freiburg. This canton, the district of the capital- 
city especially, is strongly fortified by nature and art, and 
the latter was secured against any desperate assault on the 
part of the people. The Confederates, therefore, were the 
more astonished at being allowed to enter unopposed by 
Staffis and Chatel St. Dennis (10 Nov.). Three days after- 
wards, the city was closely beleaguered. Then the Con- 
federates demanded its surrender (13 Nov.). The Freiburg 
state-council, disappointed in their expectations of aid from 
Yalais or Lucerne, requested a suspension of arms. It was 
granted till the morning of the next day. But colonel 
Killiet, who knew nothing of this agreement, began to 
storm two redoubts with a body of fiery Yaudois. His loss 
in killed and wounded was great ; but the result was not 
decisive. The rest of the army passed the night quietly at 
their watch-fires ; then, when morning broke, prepared to 
storm the city. They were only waiting for the command 
to advance, when negotiators appeared on the part of tlie 
government, humbly announcing their -wish to capitulate. 
The convention was executed in the head-quarters at Bel- 
faur (14 Nov.) : Freiburg withdrew from the Sonderbimd^ 



1847.] FALL OB' J'RElBtlKG^. 38i^ 

and the city-gates were opened to the Confederates. When 
this was made known, the Freiburg troops shouted trea- 
son, and dispersed in disorder. The hxndsturm rushed 
raging through the streets. The Jesuit-fathers, however, 
protected by the forethought of the French envoy, were 
happily enabled to escape, though much wanton injury was 
done to their deserted palace. But tears of joy flowed, 
when the prison- doors were opened for those confined on 
account of the January-insurrection. Soon, while the city 
was occupied by the Confederates, a provisional govern 
rnent was formed, all the old magistrates having fled to- 
gether. Composed of liberal men, it proclaimed the rule 
of moderation and justice, and banished the Jesuits, as 
causers of all this trouble, forever from the canton. 

As soon as Freiburg had fallen, the main army of the 
Confederates directed its march upon Lucerne and the 
Forest-cantons. Here the governing party were intoxicated 
by a triumph which the men of Uri and Yalais had just 
then (18 Nov.) obtained at the St. Gotthard pass. Favored 
by the mist, they penetrated as far as Airolo, and, surprising 
the Ticinese under Luvini, put them to flight. The latter 
first made a stand on the Moesa, entrenched themselves 
and called on the Grisons for assistance. But the conquer- 
ors, abstaining from further pursuit, were satisfied to oc- 
cupy the mountain -passes of St. Gotthard and Furka. 
Notwithstanding this favorable news, great dissension pre- 
vailed among the people of Lucerne. Many citizens who 
were mistrusted, were disarmed, and all assemblages in the 
streets dispersed. Many of the necessaries of life were al- 
ready wanting. All desired a speedy deliverance from 
their intolerable condition. 

The columns of the Confederate army began to enter 
the territories of the Sonderbund on several sides : through 
the March into Schwyz, through the bailiwick of Knonau 
into Zug, and by three roads into the canton of Lucerne. 
When Zug saw herself seriously threatened, she hastily 
sent messengers to Dufour at his head-quarters in Aarau, 
in order to capitulate and declare her withdrawal from 
the Sonderbund (21st Nov.). The Confederates, who now 
advanced peacefully into her territory, were received with 



S84 BATTLE OP* GISLIlCOJ?. [l847 

joy. But Abyberg, with the Schwyzers, as soon as he 
saw the pass by Arth and Goldau thus left open, hastily 
returned to the defence of his own country and remained 
an inactive spectator of the combats which followed. 

The 28d of November, the great decisive day, dawned. 
Dufour directed his chief attack asrainst the Rothenberor 
and the fortifications near Grislikon, the key of Lucerne. 
Here the principal force of the Sonderbunders was arrayed. 
The Confederate brigadiers, Isler and Ritter, were ordered 
to turn the Rothenberg from the side of the lake of Zug. 
In the vicinity of Meyerskappel, they encountered the 
troops of the Urcantons, advantageously posted on the 
sheltered rising ground. At sight of the advancing Con- 
federates, the mountaineers knelt and told their beads, then 
rushed with, war-cries to the fight. The Confederates an- 
swered with hearty shouts. Both sides fought valiantly, 
and the combat was a hot one. But the Confederates suc- 
ceeded in breaking the ranks of the men of the Urcantons. 
The latter retreated, fighting, behind Udligenschwyl to the 
Kiemenberg, where they formed again in order of battle. 
Their resistance was overcome here also, and, before night- 
fall, the victors took possession of the heights. 

Ziegler's division had advanced at the same time from 
the free-bailiwicks, passing the Reuss over a hastily-con- 
structed bridge of boats, on the road by Honau, up the 
north side of the Rothenberg. Here and on the hill-sides, 
a warm fight immediately took place. The Sonderbund- 
ers retreated, step by step, to Grislikon, where strong forti- 
fications with heavy artillery commanded the banks of the 
Renss. In the trenches which traversed the rising ground, 
the riflemen of Unterwalden were posted, and the ridges 
of the hill were covered with masses of the landsturm. 
The advancing battalions of the Confederates, under Eg- 
lofi", Hausler, Binsberg, Benziger and Morf, were now re- 
ceived with a terrible fire from large and small arms. 
Some portions soon wavered, and the Solothurn-artillery, 
which had pushed too far ahead, was compelled to give 
ground. At this decisive moment, the Bernese howitzer- 
battery sprang forward and cast death and destruction into 
the enemy's ranks. Colonel Ziegler ordered a bayonet 



1847] SURRENDER OF LUCERNE. 885 

charge ; with him, his adjutant, landammann Siegfried of 
Aargau, dismounted and encouraged the troops by word 
and example. Like lions they advanced. Then Salis- 
Soglio, vanquished — it was nearly half-past four in the 
afternoon — abandoned the fortifications of Gislikon. The 
Confederates rushed, storming, into them. There was 
fighting on the hill, however, until nightfall. Near a 
chapel dedicated to St. Michael, the Unterwaldeners fought 
with praiseworthy courage, until they also yielded to the 
fate of the day. 

Now confusion prevailed, and a general fight towards 
Lucerne took place. When the defeated troops, covered 
with dust and blood, reached the city, and wagons fuD 
of wounded and dead increased the terror, Siegwart hastily 
entered an already prepared steamboat, and fled during 
the night over the lake of the four cantons to Uri. With 
him were the other members of the Sonderbund council 
of war, the government, the Jesuits, and even the nuns of 
Eschenbach and Mariahilf. They carried with them the 
treasure and seals of the state, and stores of grain. Twenty 
land-yagers served as a guard to the fugitives. Salis- 
Soglio, wounded, also escaped, and the auxiliaries from the 
Urcantons, with depressed spirits, returned home that 
same night. But the city-council of Lucerne, to avert se 
rious injury from the city, sent negotiators to Dufour. 
The grey-haired general demanded an unconditional sur- 
render, and that which was unavoidable was assented to. 

On the next morning, the almost endless train of victors 
entered the city amid thousand-voiced acclamations of the 
people. All the buildings were decorated with Confeder- 
ate flags. With those Confederates who had fought on 
the B-othenberg were already united that portion of the 
army which had passed unopposed through the valley of 
Hitzkirch, and the reserve division of Bernese under 
Ochsenbein. The latter had entered the canton through 
Upper Entlibuch, fighting their way step by step. They 
had encountered a slight resistance at the very frontiers, 
near Escholzmatt (22d Nov.); one still more serious on 
the day after, at Schupfheim. But they overcame their 
opponents everywhere with great valor, and were thus 
IT 3i 



386 END OF THE SONDERBUND. [l847 

enabled to reach the common object, the city, at the same 
time with the other troops. 

Now, only the Urcantons and Yalais remained to be 
subdued. Unterwalden, however, capitulated in the night 
of 25th Nov. Schwyz, where Keller's brigade had victo- 
riously entered the March, on the 26th ; and (Jri, also, on 
the same day. From here, the leaders of the Sonderbund 
had issued fresh calls for steadfast perseverance ; but when 
they saw that all fell away from them, they fled over the 
Furka into Valais, and thence into Piedmont. Then Va- 
lais, also, had neither strength nor courage to hold out. 
Eilliet-Constant woj «<;iready on the point of opening hos- 
tilities from Yaud, when petitions for an agreement were 
presented (29th Nov.). As at Freiburg and Lucerne, the 
government fled hence also. But the Confederate troops 
were received with joy. 

Thus in the course of surprisingly few days, the Sonder- 
bund suddenly came to an end. That which had been 
proclaimed before Europe as the rock of religion and of 
true freedom, collapsed at the first dash of the waves, like 
a house built upon the sand. Too late did the French 
envoy, from Neuchatel, whither he had retired with the 
other diplomatists at the beginning of the war, proffer 
foreign assistance. Too late, also, did the same envoy 
finally propose to mediate between the Diet and the coun- 
cil of war of the seven cantons. Siegwart had already 
fled over the frontier with his colleagues, when the French 
messenger went to seek him. But the Swiss people, full 
of joyful courage as never before, recognized in all these 
events the intervention of a higher hand for the salvation 
of their fatherland. 



1848.] THE JESUITS BANISHED. 387 



CHAPTER LXXXIII. 

THE NEW SWISS CONFEDERATE-BOND. 
[A. D. 1848.] 

Great reforms now took place in all the cantons of the 
former Sonderbund. The feelings of the people were sud- 
denly changed. As had been the case at Freiburg, so also 
in Lucerne, a provisional government was formed of a 
committee of worthy citizens. Here, as there, the constitu- 
tion of 1830 was restored to its former vaUdity. A simi- 
lar revolution was effected in Yalais. Zug, also, and the 
Ur cantons immediately went to work to improve the order 
of their states. Even in Uri, where, since Tell's time, nc 
written constitution had ever existed, one was now drawn 
up and accepted by the coinmunes. Men favorable to the 
Confederacy took the helm. The Jesuits had everywhere 
fled on the entrance of the Confederates; now they were 
forever banished from Swiss soil. Men tried to efface, as 
far as possible, by means of improved arrangements, the 
marks of the recent doings of the order and its adherents. 
But this was a tedious task and did not proceed without 
encountering much opposition. The prosperity of many 
of those cantons was long impeded. Now the bad man- 
agement of the former governments first came to light. 
The public treasuries stood empty ; charges, before un- 
known, oppressed the land. These were, moreover, greatly 
increased, when the Confederacy demanded from the Son- 
derbund-districts repayment of the war-expenses, amount- 
ing to five millions (of Swiss francs). Until the receipt of 
the first instalment and of security for the others,* the 
armed occupation was to continue. All this caused great 
embarrassment to the new governments. Lucerne insti- 
tuted judicial suits against the members of her former 
council, for embezzlement of the public money, and con- 
fiscated the estates of those who provoked the war. Shortly 

* The last instalmeats were remitted by the Federal government ifj 

)852. 



388 COST OF THE WAR. [1848 

afterwards she sought a doubtful remedy by suppressing 
the convents, that she might be indemnified by their prop- 
erty (13th April, 1848); and the people, before whose veto 
the decree was laid, did not refuse their consent. Still 
greater were the necessities of Freiburg, and with them in- 
creased the indignation against those members of the coun- 
cil who had voted for the Sonderbund. They were brought 
to a most severe account in discharging the war-expenses. 
Many of the discontented among their adherents opposed 
this violently, and disturbances even took place, which had 
to be settled by Confederate interference. Yalais, also, laid 
almost all her share of the expenses upon those who 
had voted for, advised and preached the war. The con- 
vents of St. Bernard and St. Maurice were especially hard 
pressed, and the monks of the former removed their prop- 
erty to Sardinian soil. The demands of the Diet were 
with difficulty fulfilled. Before the coming of spring, 
however, the last of the army of occupation were enabled 
to return to their homes. Neuchatel and Inner- Appenzell, 
which had refused to perform tlieir duty as Confederates 
during the war, were only freed from similar occupation 
by the payment of a heavy fine into the treasury of the 
Confederacy. 

While past offences against the fatherland bore such bit- 
ter fruits, loyalty to the fatherland, on the contrary, reaped 
great glory. The returning warriors were welcomed by 
their compatriots as men who had saved the country from 
a great danger, and the names of the fallen were perpetu- 
ated on marble monuments. A feeling of pride in her 
strength inspirited the nation. The report of the fall of 
the Sonderbund stirred all Europe alao. The people re- 
joiced. From Germany, France and Italy, even from 
more distant lands, congratulations poured in, and large 
sums for the support of the wounded. The victory of 
general Dufour and his army was the signal for a reawaken- 
ing of the spirit of liberty throughout the whole continent. 
But the opponents, also, were not silent. Full of vexation 
that the interference of foreign powers had been prevented, 
they did not, on this account, give up their already lost 
caUfSe. Austria readily opened an asylum for the fugitive 



i848.] THREATS FROM ABROAD. 389 

Jesuits and Sonderbunders. Pope Pius IX., in whoso 
hands the power for a peaceful settlement had shortly be- 
fore lain, overwhelmed the victors with complaints and re- 
proaches. But the doings of Switzerland were most se- 
verely handled in the French chambers, whence the count of 
Montalembert, with the rage of a defeated partisan, fulmi- 
nated the thunders of his eloquence against the conquerors. 
They found many echoes in the gazettes of the courts and 
clergy. It soon became evident that a violent storm against 
the rejuvenating Confederacy was brewing on all sides. 
This was especially seen to be the case when the long- 
entertained desire of all Swiss patriots drew nearer to ful- 
filment : the .desire to establish, after such long conflicts, a 
new and internally stronger bond in the place of that re- 
cently sundered. The cabinets of the princes combined 
to prevent this, and in notes of very threatening tone 
presented their pi'otest against it. " As," they insisted, 
"we have guaranteed the covenant of 1815, therefore, 
without our consent and the united votes of all the twen- 
ty-two cantons, no alteration shall be made therein." 

When the Diet received these messages, conscious. of 
strength and moved by a noble sense of dignity, they an- 
swered : " We are the vassals of no foreign power ; a free 
people must frame their own laws." Then, undisturbed 
by the threatenings from without, they formed a commis- 
sion from the deputies of all the cantons to draw up the 
new bond of confederation, and these immediately began 
their work (16th February). 

The monarchs would, most probably, have given effect 
to their threats, had not world-stirring events of greater 
importance intervened. Paris and France cast off their 
fetters in wild insurrection. King Louis Philippe was 
driven into exile, and the republic again took the place of 
the shattered throne (24th February). The news of this 
sped like lightning through the other monarchies, crashing 
and kindling as it went. The day of universal destruction 
seemed to have dawned, to light the way for incoming 
popular freedom. Every mail brought astonishing ac- 
counts of bloody street-fights in the capital cities, of the 
trembling of kings and their concessions to their subjects, 

2i* 



390 COMMOTION OF THE NATIONS. [1848 

of war and cries of war in all places in Germany and 
Italy. The year 1848 is marked with brazen pen upon 
history's tablet of memorabilia. But while the world- 
storm thus raged, Switzerland stood like an island of peace 
amid the roaring waves. She did not, however, remain 
entirely unmoved by their mighty influences. Neuchatel, 
especially, felt them. 

Here, the valiant mountaineers had long unwillingly 
endured their condition : having the distant king of Prus- 
sia for their prince, and not being independent, like the 
rest of the Swiss. Especially were they indignant that, in 
the time of the Sonderbund-war, the high-council of the 
state, yielding to the wishes of the king, had renounced 
their duty to the Confederacy. Therefore, when the call 
to freedom sounded from France, they felt that the right 
moment had come for them also to shake off the hated 
yoke. The insurrection began at La Chaux-de-fonds, by 
the rescue of some men of Swiss sentiments, who had been 
imprisoned by the police (27th February). Encouraged 
by this success, crowds of people, on the next day, sum- 
moned the unpopular communal council to abdicate. When 
the latter refused, the people called to arms ; the council- 
hall was stormed : now the Swiss-cross banner floated high, 
where before the Prussian eagle had his stand. Simul- 
taneously, the citizens of Locle rose, and the valley-districts 
of Travers and Les Brenets joined them. A committee of 
enterprising men was at the head of all. The valley of 
La Sagne, favorable to the kingly rule, was entered, and 
the inhabitants disarmed. All this terrified the state-coun- 
cil of Neuchatel, and they sent the lord-chamberlain with 
proposals for accommodation. But in vain. The govern- 
ment, in haste, called upon the citizen-troops of the capital 
to defend the castle and council-hall. But the men of the 
Jura were already advancing in three bodies from different 
sides. Then, reduced to extremity, and without hope of 
protection, as the troops manifested little zeal in their cause, 
the government abdicated their offices, but with reservation 
of the royal rights. On the evening of the same day (1st 
March), the republicans, eighteen hundred strong, without 
stroke of sword, entered the city. Here, a provisional gov 



1848.] NfiltcJJiAl'EL A REI^LTBLlC. SOI 

ernraent was instituted, and, by this, the discontinuance of 
the princely rule solemnly proclaimed. Soon, deputies 
came from almost all the communes with assurances of 
joyful acquiescence. The vorort Berne, also, which had 
sent commissioners on the outbreak of the insurrection, 
recognized the new order of things, and replied to the 
Prassian envoy, von Sydow, when he presented a protest 
in the name of his master: "Switzerland acknowledges no 
covenant with any prmce of Neuchatel. That canton en- 
tered the Confederacy equal in rights with all the others, 
and we cannot oppose ner when she changes her govern- 
ment to suit herself. ' Thus matters remained. A repub- 
lican constitution was now drawn up and accepted by the 
people (30th Apiil). But many of those who had hitherto 
basked in the sunshine of royal favor, still bore ill-will to 
the new Swiss rule, and dia not lose their hopes of return- 
ing once more under the sceptre of the prince, in more fa- 
vorable times. 

With firmness equal to that displayed in their answer 
to Prussia, did the Diet leject a request shortly afterwards 
made to them by Sardinia. The king of this country, 
Charles Albert, had declared for the Lombard party which 
stood in open insurrection against the supremacy of Aus- 
tria, and wished to strengthen his power by an offensive 
and defensive alliance with the Confederates. There were 
many among the latter, especially in those districts where 
French and Italian are spoken, who, enthusiastic for popu- 
lar liberty, shouted approval of such a proposition. But 
far more said: "Why should we mix in foreign disputes 
and bind the fortunes of our fatherland to those of other 
states? Switzerland has always fared badly when she 
served others. The highest duty of every people is inva- 
riably towards their own welfare and independence." And 
the Diet, without delay, declared : " Thai Switzerland 
would favor no one and injure no one, but remain strictly 
impartial in the disturbances of Europe." (18th April.) 
There were some, nevertheless, who, desirous of combat, 
hastened across the Alps, on their own responsibility, to 
the Lombard battle-fields ; the greater portion, however, 
disappointed in their expectations, returned home at once. 



392 CONFLICTS IN ITALY. [1848. 

The name of the Confederates was ft\r otherwise noto- 
rious in the Italian combats of those days. This was espe- 
cially the case when the Swiss hirelings, in the service of 
Ferdinand, king of Naples, contended in terrible street- 
fights with the insurgent populace of his capital-city (15th 
April). Their death -despising valor did indeed win the 
victory ; but it was a victory for royal power against the 
rights of the people. Therefore a cry of imprecation 
against these degenerate sons of Helvetia rose throughout 
the whole peninsula, and, in their own fatherland, the pop- 
ular voice loudly demanded the abrogation of the ancient 
unworthy capitulation. More honor, on the other hand, 
fell to the lot of those Swiss troops who, in the pay of the 
papal government, fought against Austria at Yicenza (10th 
June). The valor of these heroes, who bore unwavering 
the storm of balls from a force four times their superior, 
recalled the deathless deeds of their ancestors. When, in 
spite of their efforts, the papal general Durando surren- 
dered the city, the enemies themselves praised the courage 
of the Swiss lions and carefully nursed their wounds. 

Soon afterwards, the fortune of war changed entirely in 
upper Italy, and Austria's field-marshal, grey-haired Ra- 
detzky, returned to Milan as conqueror. The resistance 
of individual adventurers was prolonged as far as the bor- 
ders of Grisons and Ticino. At the same time, a great 
host of Lombard fugitives swarmed into those cantons. 
The Diet immediately ordered out troops to protect the 
soil of the fatherland. The same thing had already taken 
place on the Rhine, when an insurrection of republicans 
occurred in the highlands of Baden, under Hecker (last of 
April). There also the unsupported rising failed, and 
many of the fugitives sought refuge in the northern can- 
tons. Their incessant endeavors to rekindle the war from 
their post of safety at last involved the Swiss magistrates 
in a long interchange of notes with the Grerman govern- 
ments. In this case, also, the dignity of the Confederacy 
was firmly and boldly maintained. 

Thus, in spite of all attacks, internal peace remained un- 
disturbed during all the bloody commotions of the nations^ 
and the commission of the Diet quietly elaborated the new 



.848.] THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION. 893 

Dond of confederation. When thej bad completed their 
work, tne great councils of the cantons met to deliberate 
upon IT- fluch was said for and against it everywhere, 
but over this diiference of opinion prevailed the unanimous 
desire to establish a foundation on which internal wel- 
fare ana external independence might rest forever secure. 
After tne cantons had uttered their opinions, the Diet 
again met to give the finishing hand to the great work 
(15th May to 17th June). Thus was produced the new 
national constitution, the first which had been formed by 
the Swiss alone and without foreign intervention since the 
destruction of the old Confederacy in 1798, and which 
united the twenty-two free commonwealths into a nation 
of brothers. Concluded in the name of Almighty God, it 
was then laid before the people for their acceptance or re- 
jection. In the days of August, the citizens, assembled in 
their primary communal meetings in the cantons of Ge- 
neva, Berne, Zurich, Solothurn, Bale, Glarus, Lucerne, 
Aargau, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, Thurgau, Grisons, Outer 
Appenzell, Yaud and Neuchatel, at once, with overwhelm- 
ing majorities and joyous approval, declared their accept- 
ance. The great council of Freiburg did the same in the 
name of her people. Only in a part of the former Sonder- 
bund-cantons : in Zug, Uri, Schywz, Unterwalden and 
Valais, as well as in Inner-Appenzell, did the councils and 
communes vote for rejection. Here the shortly-before dis- 
pirited party had again, since Austria's victory over Sar- 
dinia, raised their heads boldly, and hoped for a change in 
their own fatherland. Zealous priests had again attempted 
to foment disturbance by awakening anxiety for religion. 
Ticino wished to make some stipulations respecting the 
pecuniary loss she feared from the surrender of her tolls, 
and therefore voted to reject ; but at the same time de- 
clared her willingness to accept the decision of the ma- 
jority, for the welfare of the common fatherland. As a 
majority of fifteen cantons and one half, with a population 
of 1,897,887 souls, had voted to accept, and a minority of 
onl}^ six cantons and one half, with a population of 292,371 
souls, had voted to reject, the Diet, in solemn session (12th 
September), declared the new Svyiss constitution to be in 
17*' ^'^*' 



894 CONCLUSION. [184& 

force. The tidirgs were immediately promulgated by me^*- 
sengers and telegraphs, and, on that very evening, innurce- 
rable bonfires blazed on the mountain-tops from the Doie 
to the Santis, while the rejoicings of all the people re- 
sounded from the valleys. Never had Switzerland seen a 
day of more beautiful fraternization since the commence- 
ment of her history. 

Thus have the feeling of common citizenship and love f^"^ 
the fatherland refortified the liberty which our fathers won 
with their hearts' blood at Sempach and Grandson. Hel- 
vetia stands again, more nobly than ever, the rock of free- 
dom among the nations. But the happiness of no people 
can continue steadfast on the earth, if trust in God ana 
brotherly love be not its guardian angels. The enemy oi 
vSwiss independence still prowls about like a roaring lion, 
and awaits the moment when he can destroy it. Be watch- 
ful therefore, O Confederates; hold unchangeably true to 
each other, and forget not God ; so will He not forget you 
in the hour of conflict. 



THE END 



895 



INDEX. 



AargaiT. subject to Habsburg — Aus- 
tria, '2(i. 45 76; conquered by the 
Coufederaies, 77 ; a canton, 272 ; a 
Confederate. *>80 ; arms for indepen- 
dence, 286 ; liberal constitution, 296 ; 
religious difficulties, convents sup- 
pressed, 338-34:1 ; votes the expul- 
sion ot the Jesuits, 357 ; national 
con^ntution, 393. 

Abacker, Anthony, 138. 

Abandonment of principle, 78. 

Abvberg, Theodore, of Schwyz, 328- 
384. 

Ackermann of Unterwalden, 202. 

Act of Mediation, Napoleon's, 279 : an- 
nulled, 285. 

Adam the Caraogaster, 84. 

Adolf of Nassau, 36. 

Agnes of Hungary, 43. 

Albert of Austria, emperor, 36 ; assas- 
sination, 43. 

AUemanni The, subdue Helvetia, 14 ; 
vanquished by the Franks, 16. 

Allemannia, Dukes of, 17. 

Allied yantons and cities, 126. 

Allobroges, The, 7, 

Alps, The, 1. 

Am Buel, Matthias, 64. 

Ammann, Examining judge, 371, 372- 
380. 

Am Stalden, Peter, 116. 

Amstein, John, 57. 

Anabaptists, The, 135. 

Ancient noble families, 27. 

Ancient traditions, 5. 

Appenzell, foundation of, 32 ; heroic 
deeds, independence and league with 
Confederates, 67-73 ; a Confederate, 
125 ; religious division, 135 ; separa- 
tion into Inner and Outer- rhodes, 
I55j 156, 244 ; canton of Santis, 272 ; 
nations) constitution, 393. 

Armagr,rtcs, The, 96. 

Arnold of Cervola, 56, 

Augusta Eauracorum, 11. 

Augustus the emperor, 9, 10, 



Aulus Cecina, 11. 

Austria, Dukes of; counts of Habs- 
burg, great possessions, 26 ; d-jsign?. 
upon the Confederates, 37 ; defeated 
at Morgarten, 44-54 ; Sempach, 61 ; 
by Appenzell, 71, 72 ; peace, 73 ; 
lose Aargau, 76-78, 91-98 ; Thurcfau 
also, 104 ; Treaty, 113 ; war with 
Grisons and Confederates, 122-125, 
167-175 ; threaten, 295 ; protest, 341. 

Aventicum, 11 ; destroyed, 14. 

Aymar, French general, 330. 

Baden, 11, 77, 201. 

Canton of, 272, 280. 

Capuchins at, 339. 

conference, 320-325. 



Bailiwicks, see Common and Italian. 
Baldiron, Austrian general, 165-168. 
Bale, 23-28 ; independence, 29, 97 ; a 

Confederate, 125; protestant, 134: 

reforms, 193 ; civil war, division into 

Bale-city and Bale-country, 297-300. 
Bale, Bishopric of, 252 ; annexed to 

Berne, 288. 
Bishops of, 158, 176, 210, 252, 

252, 253. 
Bale-city, 300 ; Sarnen-league, 302, 305, 

306 ; national constitution, 393. 
Bale-country, 300, 305, 316, 317, 336 ; 

national constitution, 393. 
Balthazar, Felix, of Lucerne, 243. 
Urs, 237. 



Bannerets of Berne, 225. 

Barmann, Maurice, of Valais, 354. 

Baselga, Caspar, 161. 

Battle of Airolo, 383 ; Arbedo, 82 ; 
Arth, 273 ; Bibracte, 8 ; Bicocca, 
130 ; Boetzberg, 12 ; Brolla-bridge, 
346 ; Bruderholz, 125 ; Buttisholz, 
56 ; Donnerbuhl, 37 ; Dornach, 125 ; 
Emme, 361, 365 ; Ezel, 91 ; Frastenz, 
124 ; Fraubrunnen, 57 ; Gelterkin- 
den, 299 ; Geltwyl, 382 ; Giornico, 
115 ; Gislikon, 385 ; Grandson, 109 ; 
Grauholz, 271 ; Gubel, mount, 142 ; 



396 



INDEX. 



Heuptlisberge, 71 ; Herzogenbucli- 
see, 187 ; Hessingen, 100 ; Hutten, 
202 ; Ins, 37 ; Kappel, 141 ; Kuss- 
nacht, 52 ; Lake Leman, 4 ; Laupen, 
48 ; Liestal, 298, 299 ; Lunnern, 
382 ; Luziensteig, 123 ; Malserhaide, 
124; Malters, 366; Marignano, 130; 
Morat, 111 ; Morgarten, 44; Nafels, 
64; Nancy, 112; Neueuegg, 271; 
No vara, 130 ; Oelirli, 305 ; Pavia, 
130 ; Prattelen, 96 ; Eagatz, 98 ; 
Kuschnals, 168 ; Kotheuberg, 384 ; 
St. Gervais, 374 ; St. Jacques, 97 ; 
St. James, 93 ; St. John's, 123 ; 
Schindellegi, 273 ; Schwaderlocbs, 
123 ; Sempach, 61 ; Sins, 202 ; the 
Stoss, 71 ; Tatwyl, 52 ; Tenero, 346 ; 
Tirano, 165; Treisen, 123; Ulrichen, 
81; Vicenza, 392; Villrnergen, 191, 
203 ; Voglinseck, 69 ; Weidikon, 94; 
Wolfshalde, 72 ; Wollran, 273. 

Battles in the Grison bailiwicks, 172. 

Lombardy, 129, 130, 891. 

Nidwalden, 276. 

of the French andAustrians, 277. 

Battle-fields, Foreign, 151, 154. 

Baumgartner of St. Gallen, 342. 

Beccaria, 149. 

Boda, the wise abbot of St. Gallen, 263. 

Beeli, George, 160, 161. 

Belet, Vicar, 325. 

Bcllinzona, 81 ; canton of, 272 ; canton 
of Ticino, 280. 

Berne, 23 ; defeats the nobles, 37, 48 ; 
a Confederate, 54 ; increase of terri- 
tory, 55 ; reforms, 58, 59 ; ambition, 
75 ; conquests in Aargau, 76 ; quar- 
rel between nobles and commons, 
106; protestant, 134; conquests in 
Vaud, 147 ; revolt of subjects, 179, 
181-189; defeated by the catholic 
cantons, 191 ; superiority in arms, 
197-204 ; Henzi's conspiracy, 225- 
229 ; dispute with Vaud, 254 ; taken 
by the French, 271 ; loses Aargau 
and Vaud, 272 ; bishopric of Bale 
annexed, 288 ; liberal constitution, 
294-296 ; quarrel with Germany, 
314, 315; religious disturbances, 324; 
false step, 325 ; commotion and new 
constitution, 368, 369 ; national con- 
stitution, 393. 

Bero, Count, 20. 

Beroldingen, Hector of, 159. 

John Conrad, 166. 

Berthelier, of Geneva, 145-147. 

Bienne, 158, 159, 288. 

Bishoprics, Ancient, 18. 

Plack Peath, The, 159, 



Blanschli, councillor of Zurich, 350. 
Blasius, John, 134. 
Blculer-Zeller, of Zurich, 332. 
Blood-thirsty justice, 118. 
Bodmer of Zurich, 198. 

treasurer of Stafa, 267, 271 



Bois le Comte, 377. 

Bombelles, Count, Austrian envoy, Sio. 

Bonnivard, prior of St. Victor, the 

prisoner of Chillon, 146. 
Booty, Immense, at Grandson, 110. 
Boreili, Count, 114. 
Bormio, Grison bailiwick, 129, 162; 

Cisalpine republic, 269 ; annexed t>^ 

Austria, 288. 
Borromean League, 153. 
Borromeo, Cardinal Charles, his vVr- 

tues and influence, 151-153. 
Bossi, bishop of Coire, 826- 
Brandenburg, The elector of, 54. 
Brandis, Louis of, 123. 
Brantschen, Thomas, the lion of Vaiict 

81. 
Breitenlandenberg,Hans of,the Savae^* 

94. 
Brettigauers, The, 163, 168, 169. 
Brommer, Secretary, 188. 
Bruchenburen, The, 5, 30. 
Brugg, destroyed by the nobles, 95. 
Brun, RudoU^f Zurich, 49, 50. 
Brune, French general, 270. 
Bubenberg, John of, 47, 48. 

Henry, 98. 

Adrian, 110. 



Bu^le-call, 307. 

Bullinger, Pastor Henry, 138. 

Burgisser, Leodegar, abbot of St. Gal- 
len, 196-203. 

Burgler, Henry, of Obwaldcn, 116. 

Burgundians, The, subject Vaud and 
Valais, 14 ; lose their power, 16. 

Burgundy, Dukes of, 22. 

Little, 17. 

Upper, 112. 



Caddean league of Rhetia, 86. 

Calendar, Dispute about the, 153. 

Calvin, John, 147, 149. 

Camogast, Adam of, 84. 

Carapobasso, Count Cola, 112. 

Cantonalism, 90. 

Capitulations with foreign princes, 103, 

129, 150 ; abrogation demanded, 392. 
Caraccioli, papal nuncio, 204. 
Castelberg, Sebastian of, abbot of Dis- 

cutis, 166. 
Castellaz of Greyerz, 248, 249. 
Catholic cantons, 135,138, 191; 197-3C4. 
<- unions, 821, 



INDEX. 



897 



Celestin, abbot of Einsiedeln, 321. 

Celier, burgomaster of Neustadt, 212. 

Censorship of the press, 235. 

Chaldar John, 85. 

Charlemagne and his successors, 21 , 22. 

Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, 
107-112. 

Charles X. of France, 293. 

Charles Albert of Sardinia, 391. 

Chateauneuf, French envoy, 260. 

Chenaur, Peter Nicholas, of Freiburg, 
248; his death, 249. 

Chiavenna, Grison bailiwick, 129, 162, 
165 ; Cisalpine republic, 269 ; an- 
nexed to Austria, 288. 

Christianity, its introduction and bene- 
ficial effects, 18-21. 

Church-dispute in Vaud, 369-371. 

Church-question, \ SB, passim. 

Cilano, Destruction of, 163. 

Cisalpine republic, 269. 

Cities are walled and organized, 24 ; 
increase in franchises and power, 
29 ; league with each other, 30. 

Clergy, Fanaticism of the, 161. 

Coeuvres, Count of, 170. 

Coire, Bishops of, 33, 83, 85, 168. 

City of, 33, 83. 

Columban, 19. 

Coniander, John, 134. 

Committee of faith in Zurich, 882 to 
335. 

in Lucerne, 844. 



The Bunzner, of Aargau, 

338, 339. 

Common bailiwicks, Aargau, 76; Thur- 
gau, 108 ; Eheinthal, 121 ; partly pro- 
testant, 135; form cantons, 272. 

Commotion of the nations, 390. 

Communes on the lake of Zurich, re- 
volt and are subdued, 265-267. 

Compact, nature of the, 126; of 1815, 
288, 289,292; new, rejected, 304; of 
the liberal cantons, 301. 

Confederates, The original, expel the 
Austrian bailiff, 42 ; defeat Austria 
at Morgarten, 44 ; assist Berne, 47 ; 
occupy Glarus, 52, and Zug, 53 ; Con- 
federacy of eight cantons, 54; 
strength, increase of territory, jus- 
tice, 55-56 ; victorious at Sempach, 
61 ; in numerous battles, 65 ; peace 
and its fruits, 66 ; conquer Aargau 
and establish common bailiwicks, 
abandon principle, 78 to 78 ; in- 
vade Valais, 80 ; become proud, 89 ; 
war against Zurich, barbarity, 92 to 
95 ; heroes' death at St. Jacques, 97 ; 
first treaties with Franco and Milan , 



102; conquer Tluirgau, 103; war 
with Burgundy, 108 to 112; treaty 
with Austria, 113; military pride, 
arrogance, 114; petty wars, 118; 
bad blood, 121 ; refuse to become a 
circle of the German empire, 122; 
defeat the Austrians and Snabians, 
123-124; Confederacy of thirteen 
cantons, 125; serfdom of tht 
people, 126 ; demoralized, debased 
by love of money, 128; mercenary 
wars, 129 ; Italian bailiwicks, 130 ; 
disputes, wars, and consequent 
alienation between protectants and 
catholics, 134, passim ,' subserviency 
to foreign envoys, 178 ; indepen- 
dence recognized, 180; arbitrary 
rule, 181 ; insurrection of the sub- 
jects, 186-188 ; religious civil wars, 
190-192, 197-204; reciprocal dis- 
trust, 205 ; general corruption, 233- 
236; weakened by division, 254' 
Tiniversal confusion, 270 ; conquered 
by the French, and all Swiss made 
equal in the Helvetian republic, 271- 
274 ; Confederacy of nineteen can- 
tons, 280 ; intrigues of the nobles, 
restoration of servitude, quarrels 
and conflicts. Confederacy of twenty- 
two cantons, 285-288 ; cantonalism, 
familism and favoritism, 292; peace- 
ful revolutions, commotions, 293- 
800; energetic measures, firmness 
and moderation, 305, 306 ; threats 
from abroad, 313 ; education and skill 
in arms encouraged, 316 ; blockade, 
819 ; martial enthusiasm, 330; quar 
rels and disputes, question ap 
parently religious, but really politi- 
cal, 336-350 ; the Sonderbund, 351 ; 
civil war, 876-386 ; dignity pre 
served, 392; national constitution 
893 ; universal rejoicing, 394. 

Congress of Vienna, 287. 

Conseil, Case of, 318, 819. 

Conspiracy of the nobles of Lucerne, 
45. 

Constance purchases peace, 102. 

Conto, Slide of mount, 163. 

Convention of Sempach, 65. 

Waldmann, 120. 



Convents suppressed in Aargau, 840, 
841. 

in Lucerne, 888, 



Council of Constance, 74. 
Covenant of Stanz, 117. 
Crivelli of Uri. 201. 
Crusades, The, 28. 
Ourten, Peter of, 854. 



393 



INDE^. 



Cattat, priest of Pruntrut, 325. 

Cymbri, The, overrun Gaul, are joined 
by Helvetians, defeated by the Ro- 
mans, find refuge in Helvetia, 4, 5. 

Dagobert, 16. 

Demoralization of the Swiss, 127. 

Diesbach, Nicholas of, 170. 

Diplomatic notes, 313. 

Disregard of the Bond, 236. 

Divikon, leader of the Tigurins, 4-7. 

Dolder, landammann of Switzerland, 

273. 
Dominicans, The, 132. 
Dorrenberg, Peter of, 57. 
Druey, Henry, of Vaud, 363, 370. 
Ducrest, Michael, 227, 257. 
Dafour, William Henry, of Geneva, 

uonfederate-general, 379-386. 
Durando, papal-general, 392. 
Du Terreil, 159. 

Early Christian teachers, 19. 
Einsiedelu, Convent of, 20, 31, 176, 

290, 327. 
Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, 151. 
Enderli, Thuring, 168. 
Enemy of Switzerland, The real, 308. 
Engadine, 122, 161, 163, 169, 174. 
Engelberg, Convent of, 3. 

Abbot, 137. 

English envoy assassinated, 207. 
Enlistment for foreign service, 101, 

113, 118, 127-130, 154, 290. 
Entlibuchers. Tlie, 56. 
Erlach, Ulrich of, 37. 

, Eudolf of, 47, 48. 

-, Sigismund of, 186-188. 

Escher, stadtholder of Zurich, 223. 
Escalade of Geneva, 157. 
Evangelical preachers, 134. 
Evangelicals expelled from Arth, 190. 
Execution on the wheel, 43. 
Extinction of patriotism, 235. 

Falkenstein, Thomas of, 95. 

, John of, 98. 

Familism and favoritism, 292. 
Farel, Nicholas, 134. 

, William, 147. 

Fatherland, The, 309. 
Fatio, John, of Bale, 193, 194. 
Fazy, James, of Geneva, 373, 374. 
Federal constitution, 393. 
Felber, Major, 199 ; death, 200. 
Ferdinand of Austria, emperor, 315. 

Naples, 392. 

Feria, Duke of, 167. 
feudal orgauiiution, 17. 



Finningers, Tlie, of Muhlhausen, 154i 

First settlers, 2. 

Fischingen, The abbot of, 176. 

Florin, Colonel, 172. 

Flugi, John, bishop of Coire, 162. 

Fontana, Benedict, 124. 

Francis I. of France, 130. 

Franks, The, vanquish the Alleinanni, 
Burgundians, and Goths, and organ- 
ize the country feudally, 16, 17. 

Fratricide on the Trient, 356. 

Frederick of Austria, 74. 

Frederick the Great, 238-240. 

Frederick William of Prussia, 297, 871. 

Free-corps expeditions against Lu- 
cerne, iirst fails from irresolution, 
360, 361 ; second organized in other 
cantons, totally defeated, prisoners 
ransomed by their governments, 
364-367. 

Freedom's New Year, 42. 

Freiburg, 23 ; falls into the power of 
Savoy, 101 ; independnet, 114 ; a 
Confederate, 117 ; divided in reli- 
gion, 135 ; increase of territory, 147, 
148 ; disturbances and insurrections, 
247-251 ; taken by the French, 271 ; 
admits the Jesuits, 291 ; new consti- 
tution, 296 ; the Sonderbund, 351 ; 
revolt subdued, 374; war, 380; sur- 
renders to the Confederates, 383 ; 
results of the war, 387, 388 ; national 
constitution, 393. 

French, Tiie, help the Gnsons, 170- 
172 ; occupy the bishopric of Bale, 
253; intervene at Geneva, 259 ; con- 
quer and plunder the country, fight 
with the Austrians, 271-277; finally 
withdraw, 280 ; blockade Switzer- 
land, 319. 

French revolution of 1790, 251. 

of 1830, 293. 

of 1848, 339. 

Frey-Herosc of Aargau, 340, 379. 

Froideville of Berne, 249. 

Fuclis, Aloys, 322. 

Christopher, 344. 

Fuentes, governor of Milan, 160. 

Fueter, Emanuel, of Berne, 228. 

Furno of Leveutina, 231, 233. 

Furst, Walter, 39, 40. 

Furstenberg, Henry of, 125. 

Fussli, Henry, of Zurich, 264. 

Archdeacon, 332. 

Galba, the Roman emperor, 11, 

Gallus, 19. 

Gardovall, Castle of, 84. 

Gaudot, Prussian charge, 239, 



INDEX. 



899 



Gauls, The, drive the Rhetians from 
Italy, are plundered by the Cyinbri, 
3,4. 

Geiger, John Jacob, 243, 244. 

Geisberger, Francis, abbot of St. Gal- 
len, 139. 

Geneva, 7, 14, 17 ; compact witli Berne 
ajid Freiburg, assaulted by Savoy, 
protestant, independent, 144-147 ; 
compact with Zurich, 151 ; escalade, 
167 ; constant quarrels, interference 
of French and Confederates, rising 
of the people, revolutionary misrule, 
order restored, 256-262 ; incorpora- 
ted with France, 272 ; a Confederate, 
287 ; disturbances, new constitution, 
347, 348 ; bloody revolution, 873, 
374 ; national constitution, 393. 

Geneva, Bishops and counts of, 144. 

German envoys leave Berne, 314. 

Gersau, Commune of, 55. 

Gessler, Hermann, of Brunegg, 37, 38, 
40; death, 41. 

Giornico, Incredible feat at, 115. 

Girard, Ignatius, of Freiburg, 250, 251. 

Glarus, 26 ; a Confederate, 52 ; despair, 
valour and victory, 63, 64 ; purchases 
her independence, 67 ; divided in 
religion, 135; subjects revolt, 213- 
216; constitutional quarrel, 326, 327 ; 
national constitution, 893. 

God's-house league of Ehetia, 86. 

Goldau destroyed, 282. 

Goths, The, subjugate llhetia, and 
make the people serfs, 15 ; van- 
quished by the Franks, 16. 

Grafenried, Colonel, of Berne, 271. 

Grandson, capture, massacre, and bat- 
tle of, 108-110. 

Gregory XVI., pope, 323. 

Greifensee, Massacre at, 94. 

Grey league of Rhetia, 87. 

Grindelwald, 137. 

Grisons, Confederacy of the three 
leagues, 88 ; democratic republic, 
105; defeat Austria, 124; establish 
bailiwicks, 129 ; partly protestant, 
143 ; violent disputes, 152 ; civil 
war, interference of Spain, war with 
Austria, woe to the conquered, Hun- 
garian plague, great misery, the em- 
peror's sword gives the law, free- 
dom recovered by help from France, 
and the old leagues renewed, 160- 
175 ; party quarrels, 255, 256 ; in- 
vited to join the Helvetian republic, 
272; compelled to, 277 ; a Confeder- 
ate, 280 ; unjustly treated, 288 ; ua- 
tiond constitution, 393. 



Grossi, Judge of Geneva, 145. 
Growth of liberty, 30. 
Grunenberg, William of, 89. 
Gruyero, Counts of, 148. 
Guglers, The, 57. 
Guisolan of Freiburg, 250, 251, 
Guizot, French minister, 363. 
Guler, John, 165, 175. 

, Peter, 168, 172. 

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, 171. 

Habsburg, Counts of, large domains, 
26 ; dukes of Austria, 36. 

Haller, Berchtold, 134, 139. 

Hallwyl, Thuring of, 92, 98, 100. 

, John of, 109-111. 

Harten, The, of Zug, 218. 

, of Appenzell, 222. 

Hartmann, bishop ot Coire, 85. 

Hartsch, Jacob, 69. 

Hasenburg, Hans of, 60. 

Hatred against Austria, 62. 

Hecker in the grand duchy of Baden, 
392. 

Hegetschwyler, Councillor, of Zurich, 
335. 

Heimathlosen, The, 179, 290. 

Helvetia, Ancient, 1 ; a prey to fo- 
reign nations, 13. 

Helvetians, The, first exploits, 3 ; emi- 
grate into Gaul, defeated and sent 
back by Julius Cesar, 7, 8 ; civiliza- 
tion and effeminacy, 12; slain or 
made slaves, 14. 

Helvetian republic. The, 272; impo- 
tence of tlie government, 275 ; re- 
peated changes, 278 ; comes to an 
end, 279. 

Helvetian Society, The, 237. 

Henry the Fo'wler, 22. 

It., of France, 150. 

IV,, of France, 157. 

Henzi, Samuel, of Berne, his con- 
spiracy and death, 226-229. 

Hertenstein, Caspar of. 111. 

Herzog, Marianus, 273. 

Hess, burgomaster of Zurich, 334, 335 

Hirzel, of Zurich, 237. 

, Bernard, pastor of Pfeffikon, 

334 335 

Holy alliance. The, 289, 293. 

Holzach, of Menzingen, 94. 

Holzhalb, John Henry, 169. 

Horn, The Swedish general, 177. 

Homers of Schwyz, The, 328. 

Hortense, Queen, 329. 

Hug, John, 142. 

Huguenots, The, of Geneva, 146. 

— — ^ of France, 153, 154. 



400 



INDEX. 



Hungarians, The, 22. 

Huns, The, sweep over the country, 14. 

Hurliinan, Landis, 332. 

Huss, John, 74. 

Ida of Toggeuburg, 27. 

Imgrund, Henry, 116. 

Imperial domains, 31. 

tribute, 29. 

Imposing spectacle, 232. 

Increase of franchises, 35. 

Independence of Switzerland acknowl- 
eged, 180. 

Ingelrara of Coucy, 56, 57. 

Inner-rhodesof Appenzell, 155; party- 
disputes, 243-246 ; neutral in Son- 
deround-war, 880 ; fined by the 
Diet, 388. 

Interference, Foreign, 202, 306,313,386. 

Interlaken, Convent of, 136. 

Iselin of Bale, 237. 

Italian bailiwicks, 130 ; protestants 
banished, 150; canton of Ticino, 280. 

Jeuatsch, George, 161, 166, 170, 172, 

174. 
Jenni, of Musswangen, 360. 
Jesuits, The, in Freiburg and Valais, 

291, 321 ; in Schwyz, 325, 327, 328 ; 

in Valais, 354-356 ; in Lucerne, 357- 

359 ; banished from Switzerland, 387. 
Jobst of Rudenz, 48. 
Joris of Valais, 354. 
Jost, Major, of Valais, 356. 
Journeymen's banquet, 314. 
Joyous' band, The, 113. 
Julia Alpinula, 12. 
Julius Cesar defeats the Helvetians 

and occupies their country, 7-9. 

Kaiser, pastor of Uznach, burnt at 

the stake, 138. 
Kalbermatten, William of, 356. 
Keller of Lucerne, 243. 

, avoyer, 291. 

of Zurich, 319. 

, Augustine of Aargan, 340, 857. 

Kistler, Peter, of Berne, 106. 

Klauens, The, of Schwyz, 328. 

Knutwyl-uniou, 359, 360. 

Kolin, Peter, 82. 

Kost, Wendelin, of Lucerne, 861. 

Kruss, Casimir, 243. 

Kuno, abbot of St. Gallen, 67-73. 

Kunzli, John, 263. 

Kyburg, Counts of, 26, 57, 58. 

La Barde, French envoy, 184. 
La Basside, 159. 



Landenberg, Beringer of, 37; his ex 

pulsion, 42. 
Landsturm, 64; cruelty, 199, 867. 
Landwehr, 361. 
Lanier, French envoy, 173. 
Lausanne, 14, 23, 36; protestant, 144; 

retains her franchises under Berne, 

148 ; commotions, 254. 

, bishop of, 26, 148. 



Lavater, John Caspar, of Zurich, 264. 
League of Wollhausen, 182. 

of the subjects, 185. 

of Sarnen, 302-305 ; dissolved 



by the Diet, 306. 

Lecques, French marshal, 174. 

Lenzburg, Counts of, 31, 32. 

Leo X, pope, 132. 

Leopold ot Austria, at Sempach,60, 61. 

Leu, Joseph, of EbersoU, 343 ; his as- 
sassination, 372. 

Leuenberger, Nicholas, chief of the 
people's league, 185, 186 ; executed, 
188. 

Leventina, Italian bailiwick, 66, 81, 
91 ; revolts and loses her franchises, 
230-232 ; canton of Ticino, 280. 

Linth canal, 282. 

Little Burgundy, Dukes of, 17. 

Louis of Bavaria, emperor, 44, 46. 

the Dauphin, 97. 

XI. of France, 107; perfidy, 108. 

XVI. 253, 254. 

XVIII. 285. 



Philippe, 313, 317, 330, 889. 
Napoleon, 329, 830. 



Love of money, 128. 

Lowenbrugger, Nicholas, von der 
Flue, 116. 

Lowerz destroyed, 282. 

Lucerne, 20, 23 ; a Confederate, 45 ; 
saved by a boy, 46 ; increase of ter- 
ritory, 55 ; conquests from Austria, 
76 ; holds fast to the catholic faith, 
135 ; subjects revolt, 182-189 ; party- 
c^uarrels, 241-243; liberal constitu- 
tion, 296 ; reaction and revolution, 
343, 344 ; Sonderbund, 351 ; admits 
the Jesuits, prohibits free expression, 
defeats the free-corps and prosecutes 
the liberals, 357-362 ; arms, 364 ; 
defeats the second free-corps, 365- 
367; fresh prosecutions, 372; war, 
380 ; surrenders to the Confederates, 
385 ; results of the war, 887, 388 ; 
national constitution, 393. 

Lugano, Italian bailiwick, 180 ; ca&top 
of Ticino, 280. 

Lugnetzers, The, 168, 

Lupulus, 184> 



tltD^X. 



4di 



tiuther, Martin, 133 ; writings burned, 

185. 
Luvini, Colonel, of Ticino, 345, 346, 883. 

Maggia-tlial (Val niaggia), Italian baili- 
wick, 130; canton or'Ticino, 280. 
Maillardon, Emanuel of, 251. 
Mamelukes, The, of Geneva, 146. 
Mangold, 19. 

Manesse, Rudi^er, 49-52. 
Manuel, NiclioTas, 134. 
Maple tree of Truns, 87. 
March-union of Geneva, 347, 378. 
Maria.stein, abbey of, 337. 
Massacre at Reichensee, 60. 

Grandson, 109, 110. 

Greifensee, 94. 

Tirano, 164. 



in Nidwalden, 276. 



Massena, French general, 277. 

Miissner, Thomas, 206, 208. 

Maximilian 1. of Austria, emperor, 122. 

Mazza, The, of Valais, 79. 

Meggeliu, landammann of Appenzell, 
155. 

Meinrad, 19. 

Meier of Coire, 173. 

Melchthal, Arnold, of Anderhalden, 
38-40. 

Mercenary wars of the Swiss, 129, 290. 

Merveilleux, French charge, 206. 

Meyer, Bernard, of Lucerne, 844, 355, 
856, 359, 879. 

Leodegar, 241. 

Valentine, 242, 243. 

Milan, the Schwyzer's grave, 129, 130. 

Dukes of, 81. 91, 115. 

Military school at Thun, 290. 

Mob-law, 835. 

Monier, Colonel, of Berne, 202. 

Monnard of Lausanne, 319, 370. 

Montalembert, Count, 389. 

Montebello, Duke of, French envoy, 
318, 319. 

Morat, 107, 110. 

Muhlhausen, 103; ally of the Con- 
federates, 126, 154, i55, 177 ; incor- 
porated with France, 272. 

MuUinen, Nicholas of, 165. 

Muralte. The, 160. 

Muri, Abbey of, 27, 824, 341. 

Nabholz of Zurich, 197-200. 
Napoleon Bonaparte annexes the 

Grison bailiwicks to the Cisalpine 

republic, 269 j gives to the Swiss an 

act of mediation, 279. 
Narrow policy of the artisans of 

Zurich, 50. 

26 



National constitution, 393. 

Negative party of Geneva, 257, 258. 

Nessi, Joseph, of Ticino, 346. 

Neuchatel, 26; subject to Austria, 45; 
falls to Prussia, franchises increased, 
288-240 ; a Confederate, 287 ; insur- 
rection, 297 ; Sarnen league, 302 ; 
neutral in Sonderbund war, 380 ; 
fined, 888 ; a republic, 390, 391 ; 
national constitution, 393. 

Neuchatel, Counts of, 26. 

Neuhaus, Carl, avoyer of Berne, 342, 
868, 369. 

Neutrality of the Swiss, 177, 284; 
guaranteed by the Congress of 
Vienna, 288; in 1848, 391. 

Nicholas von der Flue, 116, 117. 

Nidau, Count Rudolf of, 47, 48. 

Nidwalden, 31 ; valour and massacre, 
276. 

Nobles and signiors revolt against 
their feudal lords, and make them- 
selves independent, 22; jealous of 
the cities, 24; ruined by the crusades, 
28; all-powerful in Rnetia, 83; war 
against Berne, 37 ; Lucerne, 45 ; 
Berne, 46-48; Zurich, 51, 54; Solo- 
thurn and Berne, 58 ; tiie Confed- 
erates, 59; Glarus, 63; impoverished, 
sell their estates to the Confederates, 
66 ; or ask for the rights of citizen- 
ship, 78. 

Nullification, 302. 

Nuncio, The papal, 149-152, 204, 822, 
325, 327 ; at Lucerne, 350. 

Nuremberg, Diet of, 133. 

Oath, The, 39, 40. 

Oberhasli, 187. 

Oberland, Canton of, 272. 

Obwalden, 31. 

Ochsenbein, Ulrich of Nidau, 365 ; 
avoyer of Berne, 369, 385. 

Oecolampadius, 134. 

Orelli, The, 150. 

Orgetorix, projects and suicide, 6. 

Ospenthal, Henry of, 44. 

Ossola, Valley o^ 78, 79, 81. 

Ossuary at Morat, 112. 

Osterwald, banneret of Neuchatel, 240. 

Outer-rhodes of Appenzell, 155 ; quar- 
rel between Harten and Linden, 221- 
225. 

Pancratius, abbot of St. Gallen, 277, 

286-288. 
Paritat of Aargau, 338. 
Peace and its fruits, 66, 67. 
Pecolat of Geneva, 145, 



402 



INDEX. 



People's fortresses, 23. 

league, 186-188. 

Perpetual Boud of the three primitive 
cantons, Uri, Schwyz, ana Unter- 
walden, 36 ; with Lucerne, 45 ; Zu- 
rich, 51 ; Glarus, 52 ; Zug, 53 ; Berne, 
54 ; Bolothurn and i'rBiburg, 117 ; 
Bale, Schaffhausen, and Appenzell, 
125 ; dissolved by the French inva- 
sion, 273. 

Peter of Pultinga, abbot of Disentis, 
86. 

Petty vs^ars, 118. 

Pfyffer of Lucerne, 191, 242. 

Pius IX., pope, 389. 

Planta, John, of Rhezuns, 152. 

Pompey, 162, 164, 166. 

Eudolf, 160, 164, 167, 174. 

party in Grisons, 255, 256. 

Plappart-war, 102. 

Plater, Thomas, 143. 

Plurs, Terrible destruction of, 163. 

Poles, The, in Switzerland, 303, 311, 
313, 317, 818. 

Popes, The, hire Swiss life-guards, 128. 

Priesthood, The Catholic, 132, 291, 321- 
326. 

Primitive cantons, The, settled by the 
Cymbri, 5 ; originally one commu- 
nity, 30 ; form a Confederacy, 36 ; 
resist the French, 273. 

Propaganda, The Roman, 321. . 

Protestant cantons, 134, 138, 189-191, 
197-194. 

Pruntrut, 212. 

Raccaud, John Peter of Freiburg, 248, 

249. 
Radetzky, Austrian field-marshal, 392. 
Eahn-Escher of Zurich, 332. 
Rappers wyl, 51, 103. 

• Counts of, 27. 

Raron, Wiehard of, 79. 

Rauraeia, The short-lived republic of, 

incorporated with France, 253. 
Rechberg, John of, 95, 98, 99. 
Reding of Biberegg, 44. 
^ Itel, 89, 93, 94. 

Rudolf, 128. 

Aloys, 273, 278. 

Nazar, 328. 

Reduction of the currency, 181, 182. 
Refusrees, 179, 303, 311, 313, 317, 318. 

392. 
Reinach, John Conrad of, 211. 

Jacob Sigismund, 212. 

• bishops of Bale. 

Religious schism, 133, passim. 
E^ui, duke of Lorraine, 107, 112. 



Rengger, Von, councillor, 252, 253. 

Representative party of Geneva, 257. 
258. 

Revolt of vassal-nobles and bishops 
against their feudal lords, 22. 

Revolt of the subjects of-Berue, 181. 

of Zurich, 264- 

267. 

Rey of Freiburg, 250, 251. 

Rheinfelden, 45, 98, 99. 

Rhetians, The, 3 ; subjugated by the 
Romans, 8 ; by the Goths and Franks, 
15, 16 ; generally serfs, 33 ; suffer- 
ings, individual resistance, early al- 
liances, the three leagues, are called 
Grisons, 83-88. 

Rilliet, Colonel, of Vaud, 382, 386. 

Rivaz, The prebendary of, 355, 356. 

Robustelli, Jacob, 164, 165. 

Roggenbach, Joseph of, bishop of 
Bale, 252, 253. 

Rohan, Duke Henry of, 172-177. 

Romain idiom and districts, 15, 17. 

Romans defeated by the Tigurins, 4 ; 
subdue Helvetia, Valais, and Rhetia, 
dominion, overpowered by the Alle- 
manni, 8-14. 

Roman court, plans and action, 320, 
348. 

Romantsch idiom, 33. 

Romarino, General, 312. 

Rossberg, capture of the castle, 42. 

— slide of the mountain, 282. 

Rossier, Henry, 249. 

Rott, John, 57. 

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 257. 

Rudolf of Habsburg, the good em- 
peror, 34-36. 

Rusca, Nicholas, 162. 

Rutli, The meadow of, 39. 

Rysig, Petermanu, of Schwyz, 82. 

Safety-unions of Berne, 319, 320. 

St. Bernard, Convent of, 354, 355, 388. 

St. Gallen, Abbey and Abbots of, 19, 
21, 32, 67, 73, 121, 139, 143, 176, 195, 
204, 263, 287. 

St. Gallen, City and district, 23 ; league 
with Appenzell, 68 ; dispute with the 
abbey, 121 ; partly protestant, 134 ; 
canton of Sr.ntis, 272 ; canton of St. 
Gallen, a Confederate, 280 ; anarchy, 
287 ; new constitution, 296 ; casting 
vote in favour of liberal measures, 
351, 375, 378 ; national constitution, 
393. 

St. Jacques, Heroes' death at, 97. 

St. Maurice, Abbey of, 355, 388. 

Sale of indulgences, 132. 



IKDEX. 



408 



Sails, Hercules of, 160. 

, Ulysses of, 165. 

, Rudolf of, 168,170. 

, Lords of, 255, 256. 

Salis-Soglio, Ulrich of, general of the 
Sonderbund, 376, 381, 382, 385. 

Samson, Bernardin, 132. 

Santis-alp, 244. 

Santis, Canton of, 272. 

Sarasin of Geneva, 205. 

Sarnen, Capture of the castle of, 42. 

, League of, 302-305. 

Sartori of Leventiua, 231, 233. 

Saunier, Anthony, 147. 

Savage manners of the Swiss, 127. 

Savoy, Counts of, 26, 34, 144 ; dukes, 
145-147, 157. 

, Invasion of, 311. 

Schaff hausen, 23 ; independent, 29 ; 
subject to Austria, 45 ; fights against 
the Confederates at Sempach, 61 ; 
freed by the emperor, 75 ; a Con- 
federate, 125; protestant, 134; re- 
forms and disturbances, 209 ; liberal 
constitution, 296 ; national constitu- 
tion, 393. 

Scharnachtal, Nicholas of, 109. 

Schauenberg, French general, 270, 276. 

Schauenstein, Thomas of, 164. 

Scherr, Thomas, of Zurich, 331, 332. 

Schik, Arnold, of Schwyz, 97. 

Schiker, Josias, of Zug, 218. 

Schinncr, Cardinal, 129. 

Schmidt, Major, of Hitzkirch, 361. 

Schmied, Colonel Caspar, 170, 173. 

Schmucker, Thomas and Lienhard, 
135. 

Schon, Rudolf, 65. 

Schumacher, Anthony, Ammann of 
Zug, 217-220, 

, Placidns, 241, 242. 

Schwyz, 5, 30-32 ; perpetual bond, 36 ; 
renowned for valour, and gives name 
to the Confederacy, 44 ; takes the 
March and Uznach, 89 ; holds fast to 
the catholic faith, 135 ; canton of 
Waldstatten, 272 ; disturbances and 
temporary division, 296 ; Sarnen- 
league, 302 ; breaks the peace and is 
occupied by Confederate troops, 306 ; 
admits the Jesuits, 325 ; The Horner 
and Klauen quarrel, 327, 328 ; Son- 
derbund, 351 ; war, 380 ; capitulates, 
386 ; results of the war, 387, 388 ; 
national constitution, 393. 

Schybi, 186, 188. 

Seckingen, Abbey of, 26. 

Seldenburen, Konrad of, 31. 

Serfs, lamentable condition, 17 ; dues 



to their signlors, 25; benefited by 
the crusades, 28 ; majority of the 
country-people, 126, 

Sforza, Maximilian, duke of Milan, 130. 

Siegfried, landammann of Aargau, 385. 

Siegwart, Constantine, of Lucerne, 344; 
chief of the Sonderbund, 377, 386 

Sigibert, 19. 

Sigismund, emperor, 74. 

Signioral rights, 25. 

Sion, Bishop of, 34. 

Socinius, LeHus and Faustus, 149. 

Solothurn, 23; independent, 28: as- 
sists Berne, 47 ; saved by John Rott, 
57; a Confederate, 117; partly pro- 
testant, 135 ; catholic worship re- 
established, 143 ; taken by the 
French, 271 ; liberal constitution, 
296 ; disturbances, new constitution, 
337 ; national constitution, 393. 

Sonderbund : separate league of Uri, 
Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zug 
and Freiburg, 351 ; secret plans, 352 ; 
Valais joins, 357 ; conspiracy against 
the Confederacy, 372; schemes and 
preparation for war, 376 ; arms from 
Austria, dissolution decreed by the 
Diet, 377 ; representatives quit the 
Diet, 379 ; arms from France, 380 ; 
early successes, 381 ; subsequent re- 
verses and surrender of Freiburg to 
the Confederate army, 382; with- 
drawal of Zug, 383 ; defeat at Gis- 
likon, 384 ; surrender and capitula- 
tion of the other cantons, and end of 
the league, 386. 

Sonnenberg, general of Lucerne, 364. 
366. 

Sources of the glory and subsequent 
debasement of the Swiss, 194. 

Spaniards in Grisons, 160-170. 

Sprecher, Fluri, 165. 

Spreiter, Henry, 134. 

Stafa, Revolt and subjection of, 2^5, 
267. 

Stanz, Covenant of, 117. 

Staub, John Peter, 219. 

StaufRicher, Werner, 88,42. 

Steiger, Dr. Robert, 362, 371. 

Steiner, Jacob, 165. 

Steinholzlein, Banquet at, 314. 

Strassburg, Count Otto of, 44. 

, Festival at, 102. 

Strauss, David Frederick, 331-838. 

Strebel, Berthold, 43. 

Street-fights in Naples, 392. 

Strength of Confederates, 55. 

Stussi, Rudolf, 89, 93 ; death, 94. 

Suabia, Dukes of, 17, 22. 



404 



INDEX. 



Buabia, Jolm of, 42. 

Suabians, The, attack Appeiizell, 69 ; 
Switzerland, 122 ; assist the abbot 
of St. Gallen, 199. 

Subserviency to foreigners, 178. 

Sumptuary-law of Berne, 106. 

Suter, Joseph Anthony, landammann 
of AppenzcU, 243-246. 

Suwarrow, Eussian general, 277. 

Swedish family names, 5. 

Swiss life-guards, 254. 

Switzerland, boundaries of, 2 ; in 
great danger, 123; independence ac- 
knowledged, 180 ; limits contracted, 
269. 

Tanner, landammann of Agpenzell, 
156. 

Tell, William, the archer of Burgen, 
40,'41. 

Ten-jurisdictions, League of the, in 
Grisons, 88 ; rights of Toggenburg 
bought by Austria, 122; subjugated 
by Austria, 169 ; purchase of free- 
dom, 174. 

The Tliree men of Kutli, 39. 

Thellig, Frischhans, 115,119. 

Thirty years' religious war of Germany, 
176". 

Thorbersr, Peter of, 59. 

Threats from abroad, 313, 389. 

Thun, Military school at, 290. 

Thurgau, a bailiwick of the Confeder- 
ates, 103; great mortality, 159; a 
canton, 272 ; a Confederate, 281 ; 
liberal constitution, 296 ; national 
constitution, 393. 

Ticino, Canton of, a Confederate, 280 ; 
ci\il war prevented, 287 ; liberal 
constitution, 296 ; bloody change of" 
government, 345-C47 ; national con- 
stitution, 393. 

I'igurins, The, 3 ; join the Cymbri and 
defeat a Eomau army, 4. 

Todfalls, 25. 

Toggenburg, Counts of; great posses- 
sions in Rhetia, 27. 

. Frederick of, dies child- 
less, 87 : war for his estates, 88-91. 

Toggenbargers, The, 138. 195-203. 

Travers, Anthony, 161. 

Augustin, 161, 162. 

Treasures carried away by the French, 
272. 

Treaty of Aaran, 203 ; Amiens, 279 ; of 
Bale, 125 ; Cherasco, 171 ; Feldkirch, 
174 ; Lausanne, 151 ; Mouzona, 170 ; 
Eorschach, 222 ; St. Julian, 146 ; 
Teynikon, 142 ; Westphalia, 180. 



Tribunals of the Grisons, 152, ICO, 

161, 164. 
Trient, Fratricide on the, 356. 
Trumpi, Caspar of Glarus, 213, 214. 
Tscharner of Berne, president of the 

Confederacy, 318. 
Tschudi, priest of Glarus, 326. 
Tyrolese, The, 72, 122. 

Uechtland, 23. 

Ulli Gain, 186, 188. 

Unequal rights, 126. 

Untervvalden, 30; divides, 81; per- 
petual bond, 36 ; holds to the Cath- 
olic faith, 135; canton of Waldstatten, 
272; Sarnen league, 302; Sonder- 
bund, 351; war, 380; capitulates, 
886; results of the war, 387, 388; 
national constitution, 393. 

Uri, 30 ; perpetual bond, 36 ; scrupu- 
lous justice, 77 ; holds to the Catholic 
faith, 135 ; deprives Leventina of 
her franchises, 232 ; canton of Wald- 
statten, 272 ; Sarnen league, 302 ; 
Sonderbund, 351 ; war, 380 ; capitu- 
lates, 886 ; results of the war, 387, 
388 ; national constitution, 393. 

Urs of Leventina, 231, 233. 

Utiger, Beat Caspar, 218. 

Valais, subdued by the Romans, 9 ; 
signiors, 26 ; upper Valais free, 34 ; 
invaded by Confederates, 80; aids 
them against Savoy, 108 ; partly 
protestant, 143; extends her boun- 
daries, 147 ; protestants expelled, 
158 ; a canton, 272 ; a prey to the 
French, 278; a Confederate, 287; 
admits the Jesuits, 291 ; Sarnen- 
league, 302; civil war, fratricide, 
Sonderbund, 352-357 ; war, 380 ; 
capitulates, 386 ; results of the war, 
387, 388 ; national constitution, 393. 

Valtelina, Grison bailiwick, 129 ; com- 
motions and massacre, 160-167 ; 
Cisalpine republic, 269 ; annexed to 
Austria, 288. 

Vaud, 26; protestant, 144; subdued 
by Berne, 147; calls in the French, 
and declares herself independent, 
270 ; a canton, 272 ; a Confederate, 
280; arms for independence, 286; 
liberal constitution, 296 ; change of 
government, 363 ; church dispute, 
369-371 ; national constitution, 398. 

Vendome, Duke of, 207. 

Venice and Grisons, 160. 

Vergennes, French envoy, 258. 

Vindonissa, 11, 14. 



INDEX. 



405 



Vitellias, 11. 

Wahl, Brothers, 317. 

Wala, John, of Glarus, 124. 

Waldmann, John, burgomaster of 
Zurich, 111, 112 ; arrogance, 119 ; 
execution, 120. 

Waldmann, Convention of, 120. 

Waldstatten, Canton of, 272. 

Waller, of Aargau, 339, 360. 

Walsors, The, 33. 

War not the greatest of evils, 208. 

Wart, Rudolf of, 43 

Wasser, John Henry, of Zurich, 175. 

Weimar, Duke Bernard of, 178. 

Wendell, Clara, 291. 

Wengi, avoyer of Solothurn, 143. 

Werdenberg, Counts of, 27, 86. 

Rudolf of, 70-72. 

Werdenbergers, Revolt of the, 2l3- 
216. 

Werli, avoyer of Unterwalden, exe- 
cuted by the protestants, 138. 

Wernier, Samuel, of Berne, 228. 

Wertmuller of Zurich, 186-188, 201- 
202. 

Wesen, 62; treachery, 63. 

Wetters, The, of Appenzell, 221-223. 

Wettingen, Abbey of, 138, 340. 

Wettstein, John Rudolf, 180. 

Wieland, Dr., of Aargau, 341. 

Wigoldingen, Fray at, 192. 

Wilchingen, Revolt in, 210. 

Willi, John Jacob, 281. 

Willisau, Attack on, 360. 

Winkelried, Arnold Struthahn of, 61. 

Wisard, banneret of Munsterthal, 231. 

WoUeb, Henry, 124. 



Wyler, John, 109. 
Wyttenbach, Thomas, 134. 

Zahringen, Dukes of, 23, 26. 

Zambra, (John Baptist Prevost), 162. 

Zeller, Dr., of Tubingen, 375. 

Zellwegera, The, of Appenzell, 221- 
223, 237. 

Ziegler, Colonel, 384. 

Zoppo, Lord, 82. 

Zug, a Confederate, 53 ; holds to the 
catholic faith, 140 ; party-rage and 
disturbances, 216-220 ; canton of 
Waldstatten, 272 ; Sonderbund, 351 ; 
wavers, 378 , withdraws, 383 ; na- 
tional constitution, 393. 

Zurich, 23, 26, 28 ; change of govern- 
ment, 49, 50 ; plot of the nobles de- 
feated by an apprentice, 51 ; a Con- 
federate, Vorort, 52 ; besieged by 
Austria, 54 ; increase of territory, 
55 ; conquests in Aargau, 77 ; Tog- 
genburger-quarrel, 88 ; takes the 
oath to Austria, and breaks the bond, 
92 ; defeated by the Confederates, 
93 ; besieged, 95 ; peace, 98 : revolt 
of subjects, 119, 120 ; prolestant, 
134 ; defeated by the catholic can- 
tons, 141 ; revolt of subjects, 179 ; 
with Berne defeats the catholics, 
197-204 ; reforms, 209 ; revolt of 
subjects, 264-267 ; liberal constitu- 
tion, 296 ; reaction and revolution. 
331-336 ; repentance, 349 ; national 
constitution, 393. 

Zurlauben, Fidelis, 217, 218. 

Zwier of Evenbach, 186, 192. 

Zwingli, Ulrich, 132 ; death, 141. 



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